Black Hole: Dark Star
by Dr. Bross
Summary: After the Final Battle against Sturm, Orange Star and the other countries have managed to get back to their lives. But as promised, Sturm is back with a new collection of commanding officers. Whew, it's all done. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1: Adder Strikes!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This story was written far before many details about Advance Wars 2 was disclosed. I wrote this really as my own hypothesis about the game, since I have no paitence and wished it was out right now. So you'll have to bear with me, I had to make up names for Lash and Flak since I didn't know what their names were.  
  
For Flak, I decided that Boris was a good name to use. And for Lash, I thought Sheila sounded good. I didn't mention this before, because this is a second draft of the first chapter. I mashed Sensei into Orange Star as Commander Alexander due to some screen shots I saw. Hey, he had an orange outfit, I figured that was why. But nevermind. Please enjoy my hypothesis.  
  
Advance Wars: Dark Star  
  
-Chapter 1: Adder Strikes!  
  
Andy and Sami looked out across the lake as their fishing poles dangled lazily in the water. They had been fishing for an hour now and Andy's bucket was obviously more filled with fish than Sami's was. It was obvious that she had given up and simply sat back in the small boat with her arms behind her head. Andy however was still very much into the whole fishing thing and continued to look eagerly around the water for some sort of sign that another fish was nearby.  
  
"Oh! Oh! I think I saw another one!" Andy pointed out going for the motor to move the boat.  
  
In the months following the war Orange Star and Green Earth had signed a treaty and Sami had managed to talk the guys into taking a trip to the Green Earth territory. They teased her constantly about her affections for Eagle, but an angry shake of the fist quieted both of them for the remainder of the trip.  
  
"I think I've had enough fishing for one day." Sami quickly cut in. "Let's get back to the cabin, Max should be done with his famous barbeque ribs by now."  
  
She stressed the word famous with a sarcastic tone and rolled her eyes. Andy began to steer the small boat as Sami collected the fishing poles and put them down. Their boat began to make its way around a bend in the lake and their cabin could be seen in the distance. The lake and cabin was surrounded by a heavy forest making the place an ideal spot for there leave time. It was almost a year after General's Sturm forces had been crushed and he had been driven into hiding. There were a number of search parties looking for him, but so far nothing had turned up. So for the meantime, Andy, Sami, and Max had earned some well deserved leave time.  
  
They had made it to the end of the wooden dock and Sami stepped off with the rope in hand and tied it securely. By this time, Andy had grabbed the two buckets and jumped onto the dock as well. The cabin was moderately sized and the back porch enabled it so that the entire kitchen and dining room was visible. They could all ready see Max trying to balance the rib on the end of a poker and the plate at the same time. It was no surprise that he dropped the rib onto the floor and let out a cry of anger. He gave a quick glance around and slid the piece of rib back onto the plate.  
  
"Your not going to serve that to us, are you Max?" Andy yelled out after watching him scrape it back onto the plate.  
  
Max jumped at the sound of this and looked around stunned to see his other two friends walking up to him. His face had run red and with a quick motion he instantly put the rib into the garbage.  
  
"Of course not kid. I was looking for the garbage..."  
  
"Get another plate while you're at it." Sami added. "I hope you don't do that every time you cook."  
  
"Err... Of course not. Hey, how many fish did you catch?" Max obviously changed the subject as quick as he could.  
  
"I got tons!" Andy announced.  
  
They began to talk about fishing as someone from the other side of the lake spied on them with binoculars. It was a man in a black uniform and purple trim, his skin was as pale as the moon and his eyes were encircled with black rings. If it weren't for the vibrant purple hair, you could have mistaken him for a corpse. He was tall and lanky, almost like Grit in a way and his chin stuck out. He now watched in amusement as the young one had held his bucket in triumph while the girl tried to change the subject. The big muscled one had managed to sneak another rib he dropped onto the plate and chuckles smoothly at the other two. The pale faced man lowered the binoculars and began to move back through the forest with a grim face.  
  
Meanwhile Sami tried to defend her poor fishing habits and managed to drive the conversation away with a simple statement. Andy quit with his bucket raising and looked toward Sami as Max asked her to repeat the question.  
  
"Hey, what about my bread?"  
  
"Your what?" Max asked dumbfounded.  
  
"My bread you big oaf. The bread that's supposedly in the oven?"  
  
She moved over to the oven and opened it up as a plume of smoke erupted into the air. Instantly the three began to scramble about the room. By the time the fiasco was over, there was only a pile of ashes remaining where the bread sat.  
  
"Great guys, just great. Look what you've done!"  
  
"What we've done? I was fishing!" Andy cried out defensively.  
  
The two guys backed away from the ruined bread and gave each other uncomfortable looks. They knew Sami was dangerous when she was mad and demonstrated it constantly during the missions against Sonja during the last war, even though she meant no harm. She turned around and glared at them both.  
  
"Now we're all going back into town and getting more bread and this time. No one messes it up!"  
  
"Uh... Ok... Sami." Max stuttered.  
  
The three moved, or rather marched to the garage and piled into the jeep with Sami at the wheel. Her anger was still quite alive as she nearly gunned it out of the garage and onto the dirt road that led back to town. Andy and Max quickly put on their seat belts and hung onto the side of the vehicle as they roared past trees.  
  
"Uh Sami, you might want to slow down just a bit..." Andy suggested mildly.  
  
"Yeah, it would be a shame to miss dinner if we're in the hospital." Max added.  
  
Sami gave no response and caused the engine to roar quieting the two for the rest of the trip. They could see the town as they drove down a hill and soon entered the small collection of buildings. The town wasn't any major commercial area, just a small town on the edge of civilization and was well known for its getaway potential. The small size made it certain that there was no other cars and Sami took advantage of this driving as fast as she could through the streets until they reached the grocery store and skidded to a stop before it. They stopped inches away from the glass. Sami hopped out with out even blinking and entered the store while Max and Andy released their breaths and sighed.  
  
"Max, don't ever forget her bread. I mean ever again."  
  
"I hear you kid." Max sighed again. "Geez."  
  
They instantly went quiet and soon noticed a peculiar setting the town was in. The streetlights bounced up and down in the high winds and litter rolled down the sidewalks. Then it hit them both.  
  
"Max, where is everyone?" Andy asked looking around.  
  
"Whoa, this is weird. There's no one anywhere."  
  
The two gave each other uneasy looks and got out of the jeep to look around. There was no one walking the streets, no one going about their business, no one anywhere. Soon they heard footsteps coming from the grocery store. Sami was running at full speed and headed toward the jeep as Max began to say something.  
  
"Hey Sami did you notice..."  
  
"Every one down!" She cried out at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Wha!?"  
  
Then in an instant the store exploded into a fiery inferno. Glass flew in all directions and the concussion of the blast flipped the jeep clear into the air and onto its top. The wheels continued to spin as the front wheels had caught fire. Andy, Max, and Sami still held their arms over their head in a defensive position as some of the food products began to rain down around them. There was another burst of flame as they got up and looked around dumbfounded.  
  
"What happened?" Andy coughed getting up to his feet.  
  
"I went in to get some bread and noticed there wasn't any clerk or cashier. Then I noticed C4 strapped all around the building." Sami explained.  
  
"Andy and I were about to tell you, this town is abandoned." Max explained sitting up from his sprawling position.  
  
Before the three could say anything there was the sound of motors in the distance. Sami looked around frantically and spotted the jeep. She ran to it and threw open the trunk or what was left of it. A handgun fell to the ground and she picked it up checking the clip and then reloading it.  
  
"Guys, get over here!" She ordered.  
  
They didn't need to be told twice as they went over to the jeep and kept their heads down.  
  
"You got any more weapons?" Max asked.  
  
"Yeah, there should be a rocket launcher. Hold this." She handed the gun over to Max and looked into the trunk again.  
  
"They're getting closer, who ever they are!" Andy warned.  
  
"Man we're sitting ducks out here by this jeep; we need to find some cover. Like that alley!" Max pointed out.  
  
"I almost got it!"  
  
Now the engine sounds were at a distance where they could be recognized from which direction they were coming. At last Sami wrenched out a rocket launcher and followed Max and Andy to an alley. They got low and watched as a unit of recon jeeps rolled up to the store and swerved to a stop. Black clothed soldiers with strange helmets began to get out of the jeeps and cover the area. It was impossible to see their faces as their helmets were like space helmets, except they were completely black and contained only a single red dot to show some kind of detection was going on.  
  
"Oh no." Max groaned. "FN-P90s."  
  
"Submachine guns?" Andy whispered.  
  
"It's Sturm's forces."  
  
After the black clad soldiers secured the area the three noticed the pale faced man step out of the jeep and step next to the jeep. He looked around showing he wore sunglasses and let out a sigh. He kicked around some of the debris and kept his hands in his coat pockets.  
  
"That guy... He must be a CO. Look at his uniform." Sami pointed out.  
  
"Forget that." Andy nearly gasped. "Take a look at his skin!"  
  
All three of them could see the pale white skin that was the color of snow. It was almost like the man had never spent a day of his life in the sun. They were almost mesmerized by it but ducked down as the man began to look around and turned their way. After he had look around the area he turned toward one of the soldiers and held his hands out.  
  
"Well... Where's the bodies?"  
  
"We don't see them." One soldier reported.  
  
"All this trouble and they must have survived. Unless their bodies just up and walked away." The Pale Faced man stated darkly. "Like Night of the Living Dead, but that may be going too far in this case."  
  
"Sorry Commander Adder." The soldier answered again in the same voice.  
  
"Well go find them all ready." The Pale Faced man known as Adder ordered.  
  
"Yes sir!"  
  
Four of the five jeeps pulled out of the grocery parking lot and sped away leaving Adder and three soldiers with him. Adder continued to kick around some of the debris and looked the flipped jeep carefully running his white hands along some of the chassis. Max carefully cocked the hammer back on the gun and pointed toward the four of them. Sami nodded her head and opened up the sight on the rocket launcher. Andy didn't know what as going on but decided to creep along after them slowly. Sami launched a rocket at the jeep and the explosion drew the attention of the three soldiers as well as Adder. They had their backs to Andy, Max, and Sami as they ran toward them.  
  
"Freeze!" Max shouted out putting his handgun up to Adder's back.  
  
Sami had loaded another rocket and pointed it at the three soldiers as they spun around with their guns ready.  
  
"Drop your weapons!" Sami commanded.  
  
It was impossible to see what the soldiers were thinking or even what they were looking at but eventually dropped their guns to the ground.  
  
"Kick them away from you, towards me! Now put your hands up!"  
  
They continued to follow instructions and Andy slowly picked up one of their weapons and inspected it. He took the clip out of the top of the weapon and took a look at it before putting it back and cocking the weapon.  
  
"Yep, these are definitely weapons Sturm's men would use."  
  
"So what are you guys doing out here?" Max asked. "On a little rub out mission for General Sturm?"  
  
"You could say that..." Adder muttered.  
  
"Why don't you get your hands out of your pockets, slowly?"  
  
Adder did so and revealed that he held nothing in his hands. He kept them at his side but refused to put them up into the air. He still wore his sunglasses and kept his grim appearance.  
  
"Your glasses." Max ordered again.  
  
"No. It's too bright." Adder complained. "It hurts my eyes."  
  
It became obvious to them all that they were not going to remove the glasses without a struggle and Andy quickly cut in.  
  
"So who are you? I've never seen anyone like you before." Andy asked.  
  
"I'm... Adder."  
  
"You want to give us your rank?" Max added driving the gun into his back.  
  
"No. Not really." He answered frankly.  
  
"I don't think you're in a position to refuse."  
  
"I don't think you're in a position to demand anything." Adder countered in his same drab voice.  
  
"Why do you..."?  
  
Max wasn't able to say anything else as the ground began to shake. A trio of tanks rolled around the corner and began to head toward them at top speed. Two were normal tanks while the center one was a Medium Tank. Without a second warning the gunners on top of the tanks began to open fire and spray bullets in their direction. The three of them dove for cover. Adder didn't move a muscle even as the bullets landed near his feet. Sami fired off a round from the rocket launcher toward one of the tanks. She began running after the small tank took the full blast of the rocket and kept on coming.  
  
"We need to move guys! Come on!" Sami yelled out.  
  
Andy and Max sprinted toward the alley as well and dove into it as one of the tanks shot a round from the main cannon blowing the corner of the building to pieces. When the dust cleared, the soldiers couldn't chase after them through the alley even if they tried, a pile of rubble blocked the way. The tanks stopped before Adder and a large bulky man got out from the Medium Tank. He was almost as big as Max and wore a spiked helmet and a leather jacket while wearing no official uniform like Adder did. His eyes were covered by red goggles and he looked at the ruined alley.  
  
"Hey Adder, why didn't you get them?" The big man demanded in a gruff voice.  
  
"They had me a gunpoint, Boris. It's a trifle difficult to kill someone when they have you at gunpoint." Adder paused and looked at the ruined grocery store. "My explosives didn't work like anticipated. So much for a quick mission."  
  
"Damn, now they're loose in this town!" Boris yelled out angrily. "I don't like chasing people down. They're so fast."  
  
"Well, least your units have that wonderful near impervious armor." Adder pointed out. "Anyway, we know they're here now. We'll get them eventually."  
  
-Next Chapter: Escape! 


	2. Chapter 2: Adder's Grip!

Advance Wars: Dark Star -Chapter 2: Adder's Grip!  
  
Andy was first out of the alley and heard the tank shell ripping the corner of the building to pieces. Sami was out next and dove to the ground hearing the explosion and Max was third out running as fast as he could. The three continued to sprint across the street until they found a diner and ran into it not stopping until they were in the kitchen.  
  
"Oh man. Those tanks shrugged off a rocket shell like it was a squash ball." Sami groaned.  
  
"Some kind of new armor?" Andy suggested.  
  
"Looks like it." Max answered.  
  
They watched as Sami checked the rocket launcher and then dropped it to the floor. She turned toward Andy and Max and let out a sigh.  
  
"I'm out of rockets. Hey Andy, give me the P90."  
  
He did so and watched as she checked the clip and cocked the weapon. They all kept silent as the building shook from a tank passing by. None of them moved or breathed, as it seemed to pass and didn't stop before the diner.  
  
"Adder... Adder... Man, I've never heard of the guy before."  
  
"Well he's definitely Black Hole. It seems Sturm got tired of robotic clones, now he's using the real thing."  
  
"Good, I prefer it that way!" Max declared. "Now we can fight some real battles, you know, once we get on the field again."  
  
"We need to radio HQ. For immediate evac and to inform Nell about the return of Black Hole before they can catch anyone else off guard."  
  
"Let's hope we aren't too late for that." Andy muttered looking out of the small round window to the dining area. "Uh oh, we got guys coming in here."  
  
"Back door?" Max asked.  
  
"Go, go." Sami whispered.  
  
They slowly crept toward the back of the diner and exited into another alley. Instantly they came under gunfire as a recon jeep had parked itself with the machine gun trained on the back door. Max jumped back behind the door as Sami dove across the alley and took up a position behind a dumpster. They began to return fire as Andy ran back into the kitchen and slid a mobile culinary counter up against the door and tried to hold back the soldiers that entered through the front.  
  
"They got us cornered!" Andy yelled out.  
  
"That's just great." Sami muttered returning fire to the jeep.  
  
The y shaped muzzle fire from the P90s could be seen on both sides as the driver and passenger side occupants began to fire along with the mounted gun. Max was firing the handgun as well but tried to conserve his ammo. Meanwhile Andy had moved away from the door to the diner and began to search the kitchen for something.  
  
"We need a plan!" Max yelled out.  
  
"We need to get out of here before they call back up!"  
  
"I got an idea!" They heard Andy yell out. "Keep them busy a little longer."  
  
"Good plan." Max responded sarcastically.  
  
Back in the kitchen, Andy was searching maintenance closets and pantries and found a number of items and dumped them onto a middle counter. Andy's mechanic skills had him to work as he took a fire extinguisher and a canister of cleaning fluid and began to fasten them together with duck tape. The firefight continued in the alley as Sami yelled out that she was running low on bullets as was Max. Before long he had fashioned a crude missile and darted toward the alley.  
  
"I wish Grit was here!" Andy yelled to Max over the gunfire.  
  
"Why that?"  
  
"So we could use his good shot."  
  
"What the..." Max uttered spying Andy's crude invention.  
  
"Just aim for the fluid canister!"  
  
He set it on the ground and pointed it toward the jeep blocking their exit and then took a hammer to the extinguisher nozzle. The extinguisher took off like a rocket and headed directly toward the jeep. As it neared the bumper Max jumped out and took a second to aim before pulling the trigger and nailing the cleaning fluid. The end result caused an explosion that knocked the soldiers clean from the jeep and nearly demolished the grill. It took a couple of moments before they established that there was no longer a threat and began to sprint toward the jeep and without a second thought jumped in.  
  
"I hope your poor man's missile didn't damage the engine." Sami thought aloud.  
  
Max got into the driver's seat and pressed his foot down on the pedal. The engine roared with life and the three climbed in. Andy got in the passenger's seat while Sami climbed up to man the mounted gun. They backed out of the alley and sped off only to nail some garbage cans across the street. Andy and Sami gave uneasy looks at Max who shook his head and shrugged.  
  
"I'm better at driving tanks than I do recon jeeps." Max admitted weakly.  
  
"Come on! Come on! They're gonna be here soon if you don't get your gears in order!" Andy urged looking up and down the street.  
  
"Crap here they come! Tanks!" Sami yelled out as a pair rounded the corner.  
  
"I need to think here. Which one's break?" He asked himself.  
  
"MAX!" The other two yelled in unison.  
  
"All right, got it!"  
  
He slammed his foot down again and the jeep backed away from the garbage cans and faced away from the tanks rumbling down the street. Now they were speeding away as Sami pointed the mounted gun and began to fire on them. The tanks returned fire with the main cannons and blew holes in the road as they shell barely missed Max's awkward driving. They began to pick up speed and pull away from the tanks since the road was clear of traffic.  
  
"We're losing them!" Andy cried out happily.  
  
Just then they could see up ahead of them a blockade tanks with their turrets pointed toward them. Max saw a side street and turned as quickly as he could. The tanks fired their cannons and decimated the spot where their jeep would have been if they kept moving forward. But they were not alone for long as a pair of jeeps pulled up behind them in hot pursuit. Andy glanced back and yelled out to Sami and Max.  
  
"It's that Adder guy! He's in one of the jeeps!"  
  
Max glanced to the rearview mirror and saw that Adder sat in the passenger seat of the jeep nearest to him.  
  
"Great. Let's see him bring it!" Max yelled back. "Sami! Let him have it!"  
  
She was all ready firing on the jeeps with the mounted gun as they turned the corner back onto a main street. The other two jeeps began to fire back and Sami was forced to get down as the bullets ricocheted off of the metal frame. But she did not stay down very long and got back up to return fire. Adder leaned out of the side of the jeep and fired as well with automatic handgun. The bullets spewed forth like an assault rifle in bursts and added onto the chaos of the chase. Max swerved along the road maneuvering around parked cars and just swerving to try to throw off the aim of the pursuers behind them. They continued to exchange gunfire along the streets as Max took a tight turn and nearly flipped the jeep in the process.  
  
"Max, how are you doing on that whole escaping thing?" Sami asked sarcastically. "We're still in the city!"  
  
"Hey, I've never lived here. I don't know my way around!" He defended.  
  
They rocketed past more buildings and let more bullets fly as some windows were blown out and some front doors became riddle with holes. Adder was still firing his automatic handgun off as well.  
  
"Man, these jeeps can take some serious punishment!" Andy commented.  
  
"It's gonna take more than a machine gun. I know that much!"  
  
Sami took a moment to aim an fired upon Adder only to see the bullet stop as it hit the glass. She could see Adder look at the bullet in front of him and smiled back. In aggravation she began to pound the bulletproof glass until it was white with the impact marks. Soon the driver couldn't see at thing and was forced to pull over. Now there was only a lone car in chase. She aimed and tried to duplicate her success with the other jeep but only a click resonated from the machine gun. Instantly she got low and turned toward Max and Andy.  
  
"I'm out of bullets." She yelled.  
  
"Wait! Right there! It's the bridge we came over to enter the town! Right there!"  
  
They could see ahead of themselves a small bridge dead ahead and Max pounded the gas pedal harder. But he did press his foot down long as a building crumbled and a jet black Medium Tank exploded from the rubble and began to roll toward them.  
  
"Oh crap!" Andy yelled out. "Look out!"  
  
"Hold on!"  
  
Before Max could even turn the wheel the Medium Tank opened fire and a shell exploded directly behind the jeep flipping it up into the air. The three Orange Star COs went flying as the jeep rolled over and over again until it stopped with the wheels spinning in the air. The Medium Tank kept coming and rolled over the jeep crushing it into a twisted pulp. Max got up first with a groan and could feel the ground shaking and looked up to see the huge Medium Tank stop a couple of feet away from him. He looked around quickly to see Sami and Andy getting up with a disoriented expression.  
  
"Don't move!" A gruff voice ordered him.  
  
Max looked up to see Boris manning the machine gun on the top of the tank and pointing it toward him.  
  
"Get up and move closer to your friends." Boris continued to order.  
  
As Max moved back over toward Sami and Andy, they could all see a jeep slowly make its way toward them. Adder got out with an angry scowl and still had his handgun in his right hand. Now they ordered the three to put their hands up and looked them over as Boris got down from the tank and walked up next to Adder.  
  
"So these are Orange Star's legendary commanding officers?" Boris laughed. "Not much to look at if you asks me."  
  
"We sent Sturm running for the hills and we can do it again." Andy told them confidently.  
  
"Not if you're dead." Adder responded darkly. "Accidents happen when your POWs."  
  
"This isn't a war yet." Sami cut in.  
  
"Really? You think Boris and I are the only ones under Sturm's command? There are two more of our comrades who are tearing up your precious country as we stand here."  
  
"What did you do with all the people here?" Max asked next. "You didn't..."  
  
"What would be the point of slaughtering the masses we want to control?" Adder scoffed. "We told them to get lost."  
  
"With some appropriate encouragement." Boris added grinning and looking toward his Medium Tank.  
  
The two Black Hole COs began to laugh in unison and then became instantly serious. Adder snapped his fingers and one of the soldiers brought over a box and opened the top. The pale faced CO reached inside and brought out a Cobra and let the other three watch as it wound around his arm.  
  
"Have any of you ever-suffered snakebite?"  
  
"God Adder, why don't you just shoot them-" Boris began.  
  
"Shhhh!" Adder lashed out. "This is my operation, my planning, my... privilege."  
  
He turned toward Andy.  
  
"The kid there. You dealt a rather humiliating blow to Sturm because of your age. It's inconceivable that someone like you could do so much damage."  
  
"Leave the kid alone." Max stepped forward. "I'll take it."  
  
"Quit that Max! I can take it." Andy moved forward and stood up in front of Max.  
  
"This isn't a joke kid. He's going to kill you."  
  
Gunshots erupted into the air and they all looked to see Adder with his gun in the air and smoking.  
  
"Shut up both of you!"  
  
The snake had moved toward Adder's hand without the gun and he moved toward Andy. Some of the guards had pointed their weapons at Max and drove him to stand back near Sami. She had stood quiet the whole time and simply watched with her eyes on Adder. The Cobra had begun to reach out toward Andy and it was then a knife was thrown through the air and picked the snake off of Adder's hand. Sami stood in a pose as she had thrown the knife with impressive accuracy. Adder yelled out as the snake dropped to the ground dead and continued to yell out now changing from surprise to anger and he began to point at the three.  
  
Boris had a cruel smile and nodded as the soldiers went into a pose and pointed their weapons. The gunner on top of the Medium tank re-directed his weapon as well and they had all begun to move for the trigger. Then a jet roared by over head and a missile fell from the sky and blew the tank to pieces.  
  
"Damn! Green Earth! Someone gave us some rotten Intel!" Boris yelled out. "We better get out of here before the jets make a second run."  
  
"You mean Sheila. She always guesses, never follows up with any hard evidence! She's going to pay for this!" Adder yelled back. "Then we'll come back for you!"  
  
The two piled into the jeep as the other soldiers got into the other one and began to pull away going around the wreckage of the tank. Now rotors could be heard as the Green Earth helicopters roared over head and began to spray the fleeing jeeps with gunfire. Andy, Max and Sami began to wave toward the helicopters and soon saw a transport copter head toward them. It landed in the street and soon Eagle stepped out.  
  
"Eagle!" Sami greeted cheerfully.  
  
"Man Eagle! You got some timing!" Max shouted out.  
  
"How did you know we were here?" Andy asked.  
  
Eagle took a look at the three of them and shook his head.  
  
"I got a call from Nell, it appears you're needed for duty again. She asked me to come interrupt your vacation. We knew something was going to happen when some of the townspeople sighted Black Hole troops."  
  
"Yeah, we just met them. Adder and Boris." Sami explained. "You know you didn't come a moment too soon."  
  
Overhead they could hear more jets and bombers above. Andy looked upwards to see more helicopters passing by as well.  
  
"You guys going somewhere?" Andy asked.  
  
"Yes, we were brining re-enforcements. It appears Orange Star is getting hit pretty hard."  
  
"Whoa, how hard?" Max demanded.  
  
"We need to get moving." Eagle continued. "The last transmission was cut off..."  
  
Without anymore being said they began to dash toward the transport copters.  
  
-Next Chapter: Clash with the Past 


	3. Chapter 3: Clash with the Past

Author's Note: Guess I'll take care of a few things before I begin. nanakiwolf, I made up the names for Boris and Sheila because I guess this whole story is my little hypothesis for the Advance Wars 2 story. Just thought I would tell the readers that.  
  
Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 3: Clash with the Past  
  
Andy looked out of the windows of the transport copter as they crossed the ocean and began to move into Orange Star territory. Max also looked out of the windows but each of them squirmed with anticipation of the condition of their forces. Sami was talking with Eagle about something but they weren't paying any attention. They only took in fragments of their talking.  
  
"...New ground units...walking tanks...unstoppable..." Eagle was mentioning.  
  
Soon the water began to break into rocks and they had flown into Orange Star territory. It was obviously apparent that some battle had raged through the coastal town they passed by as streets were scorched and many buildings were reduced to rubble. There were a light presence of Orange Star there, rushing wounded from here to there.  
  
"So Eagle, where are we going?" Sami asked.  
  
"We're going to the last place Nell transmitted from. We can only hope that they are only cut off from communicating from us."  
  
"Hey, what were you talking about when you mentioned walking tanks?" Max interrupted.  
  
Sami put on a scowl and shook her head. Eagle however didn't see why she was so angry and decided to explain all over again.  
  
"We've heard several unconfirmed reports by scouts by walking tanks that are slicing through front lines like a hot knife through butter. I was concerned when I heard they took Medium tanks with relative ease."  
  
"What!?" Max gasped. "Man, Sturm is unbelievable."  
  
"Not to mention we've heard that there are some pretty formidable squadrons running around out here. Keeping jets and bombers on the ground, and then hitting them before they can take off."  
  
Now Andy had snapped out of his daze and turned toward Eagle with a grin.  
  
"Reminds me of when I fought you for the first time. Huh Eagle?"  
  
This statement caused a grim look from Eagle who turned toward the pilot and exchanged a couple of words. Sami had smacked Max in the arm and shook her head again and began to lecture him on paying attention to important intel. Andy didn't know why Eagle seemed so sore of his mention of his battle tactics, they had always been open after defeating Sturm about what they thought about each others war strategies. Something was wrong, and he wasn't the only one who could sense it. The pilot turned back toward the controls and Eagle went back to Andy, Max, and Sami.  
  
"We're coming up on the area where Nell sent her last communications. Fly bys indicate a collapsed command center, but we're not assuming anything at this point."  
  
"Just hold on Nell, we're comin'!" Max said aloud.  
  
The helicopter began to descend and nearly everyone except Eagle went back to the windows to look out. They were landing at an Orange Star base, and there was a visible mix of Green Earth and Orange Star troops on the ground. There was countless destroyed tanks littering the base, most of the bodies had been collected but some still lie on the ground. The copter touched down and Max threw open the door instantly and jumped out as Andy and Sami followed. The winds were furious as many other transport copters were landing and taking off as the Battle Copters simply held position over head. Eagle was out last and had went to a soldier nearby.  
  
"How far is the nearest Black Hole force?"  
  
"Only a couple of miles, we don't have a lot of time here Commander."  
  
"All right, hurry up the evacuation. We'll have to leave the dead for now..."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
The three Orange Star COs were looking around disoriented, any sort of hint that it was a military base at any kind was blown away by the terrible destruction that surrounded them. It wasn't a complete massacre, there was still a good presence of Orange Star on the ground, but even during their conflicts with Blue Moon, they had never seen so much damage after a conflict.  
  
"Nell, where's Nell?" Andy nearly whispered.  
  
He began to sprint through the crowds of wounded and look around the many makeshift operating rooms set up by the Green Earth forces. Most them only held officers and soldiers who were trying to keep their spirits up with friendly talk toward the Green Earth medics. Max and Sami were following after Andy, making their own glances toward the wounded trying to find their leader.  
  
"Guys! Over here! Quickly!"  
  
They immediately rushed toward Andy's voice through the crowd of copters, APCs and ground troops. Eventually they found him standing next to Nell who was currently getting a broken arm taken care of by a medic. She winced as her arm was put through a sling but eventually put on a relieved face seeing Max and Sami approach. There was all the evidence of conflict on her purple uniform and face as many parts of her were filthy and scratched up.  
  
"Andy, Max, Sami. It's good to see you guys again."  
  
"Nell! Oh man. It's so great to see your ok. What happened here?" Max nearly cried out.  
  
"Black Hole, they're back sooner that we expected. It seems Sturm can work faster than we thought possible."  
  
They took a pause to glance around them at the damage and then turned back to Nell. She tried to stand up but quickly sat back down as the medic jumped up.  
  
"Commander Nell, you've got a broken leg too. Easy, don't push yourself."  
  
"Sturm's gonna pay for this." Andy vowed. "What was the fighting like?"  
  
"Quick and brutal, this base barely knew they were under attack before it was over. I think they took prisoners, but I can't be sure. I came in with re-enforcments but, it was so fast."  
  
She noticed Eagle approaching and straightened herself up trying to keep a firm composure. The Green Earth medic began to rush over to some soldiers on stretchers as Eagle reached the four and crossed his arms as he usually did.  
  
"Eagle, I want to thank you on behalf of Orange Star for assisting us."  
  
"No, it's my pleasure Nell. We did sign a treaty you know."  
  
She didn't simile but rather tilted her head forward in thought and then look back up at him.  
  
"You... didn't happen to bring any one up in your battle tactics did you Eagle?"  
  
He put on a confused face and gave a hard look at Nell trying to figure out what she meant by that. The others were just as confused by the question and simply kept listening. Nell almost began to ask the question again when he responded.  
  
"No... Nothing ever like that. Why would you ask that?"  
  
Before anymore could be said there was some commotion going on across from them. Some soldiers were talking amongst themselves in a bewildered chatter. Nell tried to get up again but got the same results like last time. Instead of getting up she called out to a passing soldier to what was going on.  
  
"We've sighted Yellow Comet ma'am. Some helicopters escorting a transport copter."  
  
"Let them land."  
  
"Yes ma'am!" The soldier saluted dutifully.  
  
They could all see in the distance the yellow marked units land in a neat circle and the transport copter land in the center perfectly protected by the other copters and then the door slide open. Sami all ready knew who it was and had narrowed her eyes.  
  
"Sonja, what is she doing here?" Sami groaned.  
  
"You better change your attitude quickly." Nell ordered.  
  
"Yes Nell."  
  
There was an escort of four soldiers who accompanied her as she asked around and then began to make her way toward Nell and the others. There was a slight change in appearance since they saw her last, like her glasses. She also carried a laptop computer with her and walked in a disciplined way which was obviously part of her father showing out. It seemed everyone but Eagle was surprised as she walked up and gave a quick bow.  
  
"Hello Nell, Eagle, Max, Andy, Sami. It seems I'm too late on one account all ready."  
  
"Late about what? This attack by Black Hole?" Sami asked annoyed.  
  
"Something like that." Sonja responded unfazed. "You see I've gathered some recent Intel on these attacks. I have to say we're going up against a brand new Black Hole this time."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean Sturm is no longer using predictable clones as his Commanders. He's using experienced, and overall, very dangerous officers as the leaders of his new invasion forces."  
  
Sonja opened up her laptop and clicked away before turning it around and setting it down on a nearby crate. On the screen it showed a rather blurred picture of a collection of four people standing together and facing toward a tv screen. Some of the figures were partially recognizable while others were only blobs.  
  
"You'll have to forgive me about the quality of this picture. It was taken under some rather extreme circumstances."  
  
"Hey!" Andy cried out nearly making everyone jump in surprise. "It's Adder! And that big guy."  
  
"You mean Boris." Max reminded him.  
  
"I see you've all ready met two members of Dark Star."  
  
"Dark Star?" Nell asked confused.  
  
"Yes, Black Hole Special Operations Commanders, codenamed Dark Star. They consist of four members, two of which you have all ready met."  
  
Sonja hit a button on the key board and the screen centered around the lanky figure which was Adder.  
  
"This is Adder, he's a specialist at nocturnal combat. If you fight him at night, I suggest you hole in until the sun rises. We've heard that he can seemingly slip in and out of front lines with relative ease. Almost impossible to catch."  
  
She hit another button and this time the screen centered around the large man who was Boris. Max seemed to tense up at this picture but continued to listen.  
  
"We've identified this man as Boris. He is a defense specialist and also commands the new walking battle tanks some of Eagle's forces have identified. The armor he outfits his forces with is unheard of in deflecting powerful direct blows. There is some speculation whether or not indirect attacks would be successful."  
  
"I can tell you now Sonja, his units are almost unstoppable with regular methods. I emptied an entire clip on a mounted machine gun at a recon. They just kept coming." Sami explained.  
  
"I see, this is valuable Intel that you've all ready faced them."  
  
Sonja hand's blazed across the keyboard but she eventually went back to the photograph and centered the picture on a woman now. It was partially obvious because of the thin body shape and the large frizzy hair.  
  
"This is Sheila, a master at urban combat. When she takes a city, it is almost impossible to take it back from her. There are some speculation that she has no reliance upon Intel at all and rather relies on instinct making her flexible for rapidly changing battlegrounds."  
  
"Who is that last figure?" Eagle almost cut her off and seemed concentrated on the photo.  
  
"This? This is Hawke..."  
  
"What? You have to be kidding me!"  
  
"Something wrong Eagle?" Nell asked carefully.  
  
"No, it can't be. There is just no way."  
  
"I see..." Sonja began. "Perhaps it is better if you tell us about him Eagle."  
  
Now all eyes were on Eagle, none of them were demanding anything. But all of them were filled with confusion and some interest on why this one would be of any difference to the others Sonja explained. Eagle eventually turned away and lowered his head.  
  
"There was a soldier, he went MIA during the Green Earth unification war. We always thought he was dead... But we could never be sure. We never found a body."  
  
"This soldier..." Sonja explained.  
  
"He's my father."  
  
Dead silence cut through the group like a razor through air. Sami was shocked beyond recognition and was simply froze in shock. Andy's mouth dropped open as did Max's and Sonja and Nell simply exchanged a glance at each other.  
  
"As you can see, Dark Star is nothing like the clones we fought during the last war with Black Hole. Sturm has done everything within his power to make fighting against them as complicated as he could."  
  
"How did you find this all out?" Eagle asked grimly.  
  
"I have my ways. As for now, Prince of the skies, I have to go. There is still much more I have to find out about our new enemy's plans. And remember, Dark Star can not be underestimated."  
  
Sonja gave a farewell bow before turning away and going back to the helicopters along with her escort. It didn't take long before Andy turned to Nell and gave a determined look.  
  
"Well, we better get going to defend Orange Star. What's the situation right now?"  
  
Nell tried to get up again and this time succeed to be able to stand on her own. She looked back toward Andy and nodded her head.  
  
"I think the last thing I got from our scouts before we were cut off is that Black Hole was currently trying to sever the west side from the east side of the country."  
  
"Great... They're going right down the center of the country." Max groaned. "We need to try to get to the west side before they get wiped away."  
  
"It would be better if we knew who we are dealing with. But at least we know it can't be Adder of Boris."  
  
Eagle let out a humph and turned back toward them still keeping his grim face. They all waited for him to speak as he put his arms on his hips and looked about them to see if they were paying attention.  
  
"If it's Hawke, I have to be here. I have to find out if it's really him."  
  
"And if it's Sheila?" Sami began.  
  
"Then I'll have to wait till he shows himself. Anyway, I have to ready Green Earth's main force and tell Drake about the situation. You can use this small contingent to try to round up your troops."  
  
"Be careful Eagle," Sami said as he began to walk away.   
  
Eagle soon disappeared into the crowd of troops running from here to there. With that Nell tapped the crate next to her to get the other's attention and took a deep breath.  
  
"All right, here's the plan. Max, your going to try and re-establish contact with the west side using the Green Earth contingent forces. Sami, your going to take over for me, for now, and begin preparations for a counter-attack."  
  
"What about me?" Andy asked.  
  
Nell looked Andy in the eyes. Everyone could see the amount of dedication inside of him and she  
  
"We haven't located advisor Marx (What I named my file). We can't take chances in this climate of danger for you to command troops on your own quite yet."  
  
"So... What am I going to do?"  
  
"Go to Blue Moon. See if you can get some help from them. Is everything clear? Let's move out we don't have a moment to spare."  
  
Andy and Max began to move away from the leveled base and took one last look before moving out in the opposite directions.  
  
-Next Chapter: The Copter Command Plan 


	4. Chapter 4: The Copter Command Plan

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 4: The Copter Command Plan  
  
The small Orange Star force began to make its way through the dense snowy forests of Blue Moon while heading north toward the capital. Andy as well as the other forces had bundled up in heavy coats and worked slowly through the weather and the forest. His small party consisted of an APC and two recon units while been given a division of Medium Tanks for backup. It wasn't a lot to work with, but then the condition of the Orange Star forces wasn't top shape after being hit so hard. Every single one of the soldiers hoped that they wouldn't find Black Hole out here.  
  
The areas Andy passed through reminded him a lot of the last war where he was pushing into Blue Moon on a mission to find and capture Olaf for attacking Orange Star. He thought it was funny now that he was going to ask for their help. He knew that Grit wouldn't mind helping out, but Olaf on the other hand would be a completely different story.  
  
"Commander Andy..." The driver called out. "Take a look ahead."  
  
"You know you can just call me Andy right?"  
  
"Uh... sure... but look."  
  
Andy stood up from his seat grasping the frame of the windshield and look ahead through the white landscape to see several trees fallen down on the road. The first thing that came to mind was bulldoze it with the Medium Tanks. The convoy stopped and Andy got out along with some other soldiers who were riding in the APC and approached the fallen trees. Upon a closer look, it was easy to see that there was far too many trees to just bulldoze with the tanks.  
  
"Crap. This is just great. Now I know why I don't live in Blue Moon territory."  
  
"The weather out here must play havoc with the movement of troops." One of the soldiers suggested.  
  
"Naw... Not for Olaf at least. Where's the map? Let me see it."  
  
Now Andy as well as some of the other soldiers were gathered around the map looking at it and partially to deflect the cold winds that were beginning to whip their exposed faces. There was an alternate route, but it wound itself up and down a nearby mountain. Grey Crater Mountain.  
  
"Great, a mountain?"  
  
"Look we can't wait for this snow to thaw so that we can bulldoze these trees, we got to go around." Andy commanded. "Let's get going."  
  
Once they had returned to the vehicles they could see a barely visible dirt road near the fallen trees and went down it. As they passed by, a lone soldier hiding in the trees put down his binoculars and picked up a radio.  
  
"Commander Adder, they're playing right into your hands. By the time they make it up there, it'll be nightfall." The soldier reported with a hoarse voice.  
  
The Orange Star forces began to climb the mountain in a excruciating slow pace. The road they used to move across the mountain wasn't paved making it all the more dangerous. There also wasn't any guardrails making it easy to swerve off the edge and tumble down the mountain into the dark forest below. Before they knew it, it was nightfall, but at least it wasn't snowing. The moon was out as well, but it was still very dark. Andy looked behind him and was still able to see the recon in the back but the snow and his speed was his major concern.  
  
"I beginning to hate snow." Andy grumbled. "Isn't there anyway we can speed this up?"  
  
"Unless you want to plunge off the side of the mountain." The driver responded.  
  
"Shoot."  
  
Suddenly the night was lit up by a bright light and then a screaming missile rocketed toward the side of the mountain and blew the rear recon into pieces. The tanks turrets swerved as the gunners manned their machine guns and Andy got up to look off the side of the mountain into the darkness. He couldn't see a thing but someone was obviously shooting at them. Another rocket lit up the sky and now that they were looking, the faint outline of a black battle copters could be see hovering around the mountain. Their engines were practically silent, only a murmur was heard through the night.  
  
"Crap! It's Black Hole forces!"  
  
The radio in the jeep began to beep and a voice came out.  
  
"So Andy... How does if feel to be lost in the dark?" A cruel voice asked him.  
  
"It's Adder! Guys! Open fire! Shoot!" Andy commanded.  
  
The Medium Tanks began to shoot out into the darkness and lit up the night skies. Even with the flashes of light from the machine guns. The copters were still barely able to be identified. This time a group of five rockets fell from the sky and hit the tanks damaging them, but not crippling them.  
  
"We're sitting ducks on this mountain!" The driver yelled out.  
  
"We gotta get moving!"  
  
More rockets erupted from the sky, but this time it did not hit any of Andy's units on the side of the mountain, this time they hit the black helicopters and one exploded into a ball of flame revealing the others with the intense light. Adder's bewildered voice could be heard over the radio.  
  
"What the hell! Who's shooting at us?"  
  
Another voice came on the radio, but this time it was not Adder's or anyone else Andy recognized.  
  
"This is Commander Alexander reporting for duty! All right guys, take down those black vultures right quick!"  
  
Now Andy could see a sizeable force of Orange Star helicopters move in front of them. It was easy to distinguish the Black Hole helicopters with the silent engines from the noisy Orange Star ones. These helicopters had bright spotlights and fired a multitude of rockets like a machine gun into the darkness. The Black Hole helicopters went down in flame and suddenly Adder's voice came back on.  
  
"All right! Ground forces, take them from both sides before they can escape!"  
  
The rumble of tanks could be heard through the darkness but like the helicopters could not be seen. It was then Andy noticed paratroopers landing on some cliffs above them and taking out rocket launchers to shoot at some tanks that were right in front of him. There was the same maneuver executed behind them and before long, Adder's forces were beat back for now.  
  
"Yahoo! Nice shooting! Let's get our guys off the ground before that snake moves in for the kill!"  
  
Now Andy could hear a chorus of loud rotors as transport copters began to appear and open up their side doors. Some soldiers leaned out and called out to Andy and the rest of them to get on. They were lifted onto the copters one by one until everyone was pulled from mountain. The copters pulled away and left the remaining vehicles abandoned on the side of the mountain. Andy could only grin and give the thumbs up to the helicopter crew. Then an old man stepped from the cockpit wearing a paratroopers uniform and gave a salute. His face was wrinkled, but didn't hinder the confident face he had on, nor did the glasses.  
  
"Hey, are you that Alexander guy who was on the radio?"  
  
"Affirmative, son. Nell sent you some back up, I'm the copter expert. My guys can fly through any weather, they can perform all kinds of daring helicopter feats. I call it Copter Command."  
  
"Copter Command huh? So how did you shoot down those Black Hole helicopters?"  
  
Alexander sat down and pulled the glasses off of his face to give them a cleaning.  
  
"The Medium Copter is the ultimate rotor machine. It's got the latest and greatest technology. The only way to fight Adder is with Night Vision, like all his units have."  
  
"The Medium Copter? You've got them? Wow, I only heard stories about that unit. So that's how those missiles were fired so fast."  
  
He grinned and put the glasses back on his face before turning toward Andy.  
  
"Yep, I got them, and I'm a gonna use them too. We can't pull any punches for these new guys were fighting. Got to give them all we got."  
  
There was some gunfire they could hear from below and the soldiers from Andy's forces instantly went to the window. They feared it was anti-air fire, but the weak light that was showing up from below signaled it was small arms fire.  
  
"Anyway, I meant to tell you. Sonja's found out that Black Hole is dividing tasks among Dark Star now. This snake guy, what's his name?"  
  
"Adder." Andy corrected.  
  
"Yeah, Adder. He's got Blue Moon, launched his forces a couple of days ago. Right after you left for these parts. Sami and Max have identified Sheila in Orange Star, and it seems that Boris is trying to take on Yellow Comet."  
  
This caused Andy to remember the reaction of Eagle to the sound of his father being a part of Dark Star and instantly brought him up in the conversation. Alexander leaned back and looked up into the air thinking hard. Eventually turned back to Andy and nodded his head.  
  
"Yeah, that's right. Hawke has Green Earth. You know, I always wanted to meet that Eagle guy, I heard he's got some powerful copter units. I could learn a thing or two..."  
  
"Commander Alexander..." The pilot interrupted.  
  
"Yeah?" He old man yelled back.  
  
"We've confirmed that several more of Adder's copter units are giving chase."  
  
"Too bad for him then huh?"  
  
"What?" Andy exclaimed. "What do you mean 'too bad'? We can't simply lead them straight to the Blue Moon capital!"  
  
"Don't worry sonny. We're gonna out run them. I've got the fastest copters anywhere."  
  
Andy shook his head in disbelief and then let out a laugh. It seemed like nothing could get Alexander down. The man was almost way too overconfident, but then again his forces were armed with the new Medium Copter. It was then Andy as well as his troops realized how tired they were and eventually drifted off to sleep to the hum of the rotors. It almost seemed to him as soon as he fell asleep, someone was nudging him.  
  
"Too early. Five more minutes." Andy groaned.  
  
"Sami's gonna catch you!" He heard a voice say to him.  
  
Instantly Andy sat up with a frantic face and began to look around quickly. The next thing he knew there was lots of laughter in the transport copter. Alexander was looking in from the outside with a sly look and the pilots in the cockpits were laughing as well.  
  
"What's going on?" Andy asked still drowsy.  
  
"Had to give you some modivatin' to get moving. Come on, we've reached Fist Peninsula. Time to go ask for some Blue Moon assistance." Alexander explained. "I all ready told them what's going on. Hopefully we won't get into a messy situation with our Blue Moon neighbors and hosts."  
  
"Oh, ah. Ok."  
  
As soon as Andy stepped out of the transport copter he was greeted with brutal blast of cold air and he pulled his head into his coat to try and shield himself. They had landed at one of the Blue Moon's airfields and all of the copters from last night were on the ground around them. Some large hangars could be seen in the distance, some were closed, some were half open revealing a bomber parked inside. All ready there was a number of jets parked on the runway.  
  
They were greeted rather indifferently by the Blue Moon soldiers who watched them from jeeps parked around the copters. A number of vehicles were parked and waiting for Alexander and Andy to take a seat. The drivers said little and began off toward the Blue Moon ministry of defense. The city looked much like Russian capital, with the domes that are found on the Kremlin. Snow was everywhere to Andy's dismay. The soldiers pointed out some sites just to be friendly but most kept to themselves. It wasn't a long ride from the airfield before they came upon a large rectangular building with an extravagant look.  
  
The jeeps had to stop before a security gate and check in before moving on inside to the parking lot. It was a terribly quick transition from the cold parking lot of the ministry to the warm waiting rooms with carved wooden chairs and a huge flag of the Blue Moon forces up against one of the walls. Now they were to wait, which Alexander told him was typical of Blue Moon when you wanted to meet them unexpectedly. He told Andy it was their way of feeling important.  
  
"I hope we don't have to wait any longer. Something could be happening to Orange Star right now..."  
  
"Now don't worry sonny. I've been in the service for years, and I know what I'm saying when I say we have some reliable, resourceful men and women who are defending our country. They'll be fine, just be concentrated on the moment."  
  
More words of wisdom for Andy to absorb during their wait and eventually the doors opened up and a man in a suit walked through.  
  
"Supreme Commander Olaf of the Blue Moon forces is ready to see you now."  
  
"All right, finally." Andy said with a bit too much enthusiasm.  
  
They entered an office and sure enough, Olaf sat behind a large desk that was furnished and probably cleaned until the point where you couldn't clean it any more. He was in his usual mood with his hands folded and his elbows on the desk giving a firm look to the two Orange Star COs that entered the office. His blue uniform and cap looked almost as if they had come straight from the cleaners. But none of this concerned Andy mostly because of his age and because of what was happening in Orange Star at the time.  
  
"Well, well, well. If it isn't that disrespectful little twerp. Andy. How are things in Orange Star?" Olaf asked in a cynical voice.  
  
"Olaf you got to listen to me. Black Hole is attacking us, we've suffered some pretty heavy casualties and damages. We need your help." Andy explained.  
  
This caused a loud and deep laugh to erupt from Olaf who sat back in his chair and looked toward Andy skeptically.  
  
"You want... Blue Moon... To help you?"  
  
It was difficult for Olaf to get anything out through his laughing. Andy was suddenly ready to give Olaf a smack upside the head, but Alexander held him back and looked at him firmly. By this time, Olaf had managed to stop his laughing, but still kept a wide grin across his face.  
  
"We had one moment of weakness Andy." Olaf began. "When Sturm manipulated our country into warring with you. We wanted revenge and we got that revenge. Blue Moon wanted nothing to do with Orange Star after that. And we still don't."  
  
Andy's mind raced, he wanted to say something that would change Olaf's mind. If he couldn't get Olaf to see it his way, then there would be no help from Grit or anyone else among the Blue Moon ranks. Frustration was clearly apparent on his face, and Olaf openly loved every moment of it.  
  
"So, you can leave. Good luck with Black Hole."  
  
"When Sturm is done with us where do you think he'll go next? He's coming for you! Because you backstabbed him!"  
  
Olaf lifted an eyebrow and began to think this over. But he didn't lose face for long and leaned forward in his chair.  
  
"Blue Moon will triumph when Sturm tries to attack. We know he's coming now, thanks to you Andy."  
  
"But his forces are all ready here!" Andy screamed at the top of his lungs.  
  
The frustration had reached a boiling point and even Alexander couldn't hold it back. This statement didn't get to Olaf right away but after a momentary pause, he began to tug at this moustache and squirm in his chair.  
  
"You don't have any proof..."  
  
"Actually sir." Alexander began but was quickly cut off by Oalf.   
  
"Who are you?" Olaf demanded.  
  
"Oh, I'm Alexander, commander of the Orange Star helicopter units. We ran into a sizeable force of Black Hole troops trying to get here. If you call you other bases, I'm sure your troops have seen forces moving through the night."  
  
"This is absolutely preposterous..."  
  
The phone rang and all three of them jumped. Olaf stood up and reached across the desk picking up the extravagant looking phone and putting it to his ear. Andy and Alexander could hear voices, but not clearly enough to understand it.  
  
"Grit? What are you doing calling me when I'm in the middle of a conference with... What? Your kidding! When? Are you sure? There isn't some kind of mistake is there? Grrr... Beat them back Grit! Don't take any crap from the likes of Black Hole! I'll be coming with re-enforcements shortly!"  
  
Olaf slammed the phone down and gave an angry glare towards Andy. But this glare came with another feeling, one of concern and perhaps a little bit of fear. He moved out from behind the desk and straightened his hat.  
  
"All right Andy, here's the deal. Your going to join me against this force of Black Hole with your new copters. Your going to help us beat them back. When we're done here, we'll see about helping out Orange Star."  
  
"You promise?" Andy demanded eagerly.  
  
Olaf began to stutter and ball his fists.  
  
"I promise, no I swear upon the crescent shape of the Blue Moon. I'll help out Orange Star." He admitted reluctantly.  
  
"Then let's go!" Andy cried out cheerfully.  
  
The three exited the room side by side, reading themselves for their first encounter against the new Black Hole forces on the battlefield.  
  
-Next Chapter: Plans and Executions! 


	5. Chapter 5: Plans and Executions

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 5: Plans and Executions!  
  
The wind tossed the seas around furiously and it also didn't help that there was pounding rain on top of that. But despite this, a lone figure stood on the helipad of the Cruiser looking out into the darkness of the storm. The storm and the darkness portrayed a cruel appearance about him. His black overcoat and white spiky hair would have seemed innocent enough, if it wasn't in the way of a storm. His hands were covered by gloves as well and he kept them folded behind his back as he waited.  
  
Through the storm a helicopter could be seen, making it's way quickly through the storm. The man on the helipad would have missed it if he hadn't learned a thing or two from the CO who was on it about spotting units under the cover of darkness. Not to mention the man's eyes were sharp as an eagle's as well. The copter began to throw around the rain as it slowly set down on the helipad and landed. The door opened up and Adder stepped off holding onto his hat and rushing toward the man on the helipad.  
  
"Hawke! This is crazy! Don't ever do this again!" Adder cried out.  
  
"You never did like getting wet, Adder." Hawke laughed. "Come, let us go inside out of the storm."  
  
They walked along the side of the cruiser toward the control room through the swaying and the spray of the rain. Adder was first to the door and spun the wheel to open it and was inside in a flash. Hawke on the other hand walked through the rain rather calmly, almost as if he enjoyed it. Before long they were both inside and another person was waiting for them. A frizzy haired woman who was sitting back with her feet upon the control panel and with a cocky grin on her face. Adder was brushing water off of his clothes and took off his hat to wring it out as Hawke entered and closed the door.  
  
"So how goes the war on your front Sheila?"  
  
Sheila looked toward Hawke with a smile and set her feet on the ground. Her outfit was a leather frock that went down to her knees and where knee high boots took over. Probably because of her unit colors, she had put on black lipstick.  
  
"Orange Star is gonna be the industrial district of the new Black Hole country Hawke. They're falling like dominoes. Where's Boris by the way? I haven't seen the big lug since we moved out from Round Island."  
  
"If I needed Boris here I would have called for him. Besides, Kanbei is putting up stiff resistance. He needs his attention concentrated on one area now. And Adder," Hawke turned toward him. "How goes your front?"  
  
"Orange Star is trying to get some sort of deal from Blue Moon. But with the cruise missiles and nighttime strikes. There won't be a Blue Moon left to help them out."  
  
During Adder's response, Hawke had moved over toward cage and opened it up. A large falcon moved out onto his right arm and perched there. Sheila could see Adder flinch and let out a laugh.  
  
"What's a matter Adder? You don't like Hawke's birds?"  
  
"Keep those feathered freaks, away from me." He warned. "What about you Hawke? I haven't seen any damage on Drake's navy yet. I'm rather disappointed. Sturm made it sound like you were better than that."  
  
Hawke had removed the glove from his left hand and began to stroke the birds feathers gently. He kept stroking the bird but turned toward Adder slowly.  
  
"Birds aren't freaks Adder, they're graceful hunters. They know when to strike their prey down and when to watch."  
  
The room was tense, at least between Adder and Hawke. Sheila on the other hand enjoyed the scene and sat back waiting for what she thought would happen next. Suddenly Hawke threw his left arm forward and the falcon dove off of his arm and flew straight toward Adder. He ducked with a scream and tried to shield himself with his arms. Despite all this, the falcon had still managed to puck the hat off Adder's head and now held it in it's talons. This had all happened in a matter of moments and Hawke let out a laugh as he got the hat from the falcon's talons and let the bird perch on his left arm again.  
  
Adder felt his head realizing his hat was gone and then proceeded to rip it out of Hawke's hands and set it on his head angrily. His pale face was brimming with anger, but it did not frighten or concern Hawke at all who had turned his attention back to his falcon. Sheila was laughing hysterically and increased Adder's anger tenfold.  
  
"If your done! I'd like to get back to work now!" Adder yelled angrily.  
  
"No. Not yet. You all know that Sturm's orders come through me and goes to you. So here are your new orders."  
  
Hawke let the falcon off of his arm and back into the cage, but he did not shut the door and turned toward them both.  
  
"We have new priorities. Since everyone is doing so well. We need to take some of Green Earth to cut their supplies down to a trickle. As you know they're nearly the biggest country among the four armies. They need to be slowed down."  
  
"I thought Green Earth was your priority? Maybe you have a personal agenda with your son? Eh Hawke?" Adder gloated.  
  
Hawke eyed Adder suspiciously and moved toward him slowly.  
  
"How did you find out? Did you do some digging into my closet?"  
  
"Everyone has their skeletons. Did you really think that Sturm wouldn't find out all about you? He knows about everyone, their strengths, their weaknesses, their pasts. Sheila, Boris, and I are no exception."  
  
Sheila stood up and moved over beside Adder eyeing Hawke interestedly. She crossed her arms and began to smile slowly.  
  
"If you want us to kill your son so you don't have too... That wouldn't be a problem."  
  
Hawke didn't say anything and turned away. He was looking out across the ocean at one of the aircraft carriers where his jets and short range bombers sat. The other two continued to sit an silence waiting for an answer.  
  
"No... I can handle it. What Sturm really wanted you to do was take over their launch platforms."  
  
"But we all ready have missiles Hawke. What would some puny Green Earth missiles be to us?"  
  
"No. Rocket platforms, fully operational bases able to launch space bound rockets."  
  
"Ah... I see now." Sheila nodded her head. "The space race is on huh? This is gonna be some party once we get our goods orbital."  
  
"Adder has the weapon to launch. You has the means to hold the launch facilities. I didn't place my forces in Green Earth because I knew we would eventually change places with you."  
  
"I see now. Your a little reluctant to let go of your prey in Green Earth? Great. Why didn't Sturm tell us?" Adder demanded.  
  
"Because the less we know. The less that Yellow Comet wretch Sonja knows." Hawke explained.  
  
"Oh no... Not her. I hope Boris takes her out before she becomes any further problems."  
  
"Anyway, those are your orders. Move out at once."  
  
Adder wasted no time exiting the control room and moving back through the storm toward the helicopter. Sheila however didn't move, she continued to stand behind Hawke and looking toward him with a thoughtful expression.  
  
"You know Hawke, we all went through hell. You know that. Adder seems like a jerk, but we're all family here. If you need anything, we're here for you."  
  
"Thank you Sheila, but everyone will eventually fight their own battles by themselves. It's just a matter of time before we meet on the battlefield and only one of us will walk away."  
  
She nodded and exited the control room leaving Hawke to look out across the ocean. He held a firm glare and out of nowhere he beat his fists down on the panel before him and cussed.  
  
"You promised me Sturm!" He whispered to no one.  
  
-------------------  
  
Gunfire raged outside the building. Fast blazing fire that could only come from guns used by the Black Hole forces. The battlefield was the country of Yellow Comet in one of the abandoned areas of the North Island. The Black Hole forces were getting dangerously close to the command center of Yellow Comet. Lines of Comet soldiers took up positions behind vehicles and tanks trying to fight of the advance of the enemy. Boris's troops were armed with the walking battle tanks coined the Spider Tanks by Comet forces. They seemed unstoppable as they pushed through the troops with their relentless machine gun fire and large primary cannons.  
  
Despite the rockets that they were shelling the tanks with, it seemed impossible to damage the walking tanks. They would give them everything they had and do practically nothing to them. But when the Black Hole forces open fire, they made holes through the front lines of Comet troops. The situation got worse as helicopters began to fly over and Black Hole soldiers repelled down behind the lines creating disrupting pockets of chaos. But the Comet forces fought on bravely against the odds. One of the soldiers began to move back through the lines to give a report to the commander and moved quickly through the repelling soldiers who fired upon him.  
  
He managed to make his way inside and could see the barricades being set up by other soldiers, preparing for a full scale assault of the command center by the enemy. Several rooms he passed contained scores of communications officers giving out orders and transmitting reports from the fields. But the soldier continued until reaching a room heavily guarded in the back. Sonja was giving out orders at a furious pace as the information came to her. She instantly noticed the soldier who entered as one of the lieutenants and went to him instantly.  
  
"What's going on out there?" Sonja demanded.  
  
"Those walking tanks are punching holes through our lines. Nothing we hit them with works!"  
  
"If we didn't lose those rockets from that initial strike..."  
  
An explosion rocked the building signaling that Boris's troops had got tired of firing upon soldiers. The place became chaos as Sonja took a deep breath and yelled out.  
  
"Give the order to evacuate! Fall back! Everyone fall back!"  
  
There was gunfire in the hallway, but it was too soon to be coming from the advancing forces. The soldier remembered the chaos from outside and turned toward Sonja.  
  
"Commander! Repelling forces from helicopters!"  
  
"How could things have gone so badly?" Sonja muttered. "We need to move now!"  
  
They moved into the hallway, all ready the black outfits of the enemy soldiers could be seen gripping their guns and emptying their clips on the defending Comet forces.  
  
"Your copter should be in the rear helipad! Hopefully, they haven't gotten past our other troops." The soldier reported.  
  
Sonja and her guards began to move again as the other soldier rushed toward the enemy to defend his commander. The building shook and the lights flickered as they continued toward the rear entrance of the makeshift command center. The gunfire became distant as Sonja was led up stairs toward the helipad on the building. Finally they reached the floor of the helipad and dashed through the halls, but the Black Hole forces had repelled onto the roof as well and met them as they turned the corner.  
  
Two of the escorting soldiers were gunned down instantly as Sonja an the remaining two soldiers jumped back. But this gunfire was different, it wasn't as constant as the P90s, but Sonja recognized it.  
  
"Assault shotguns. Give me your handgun."  
  
"Yes ma'am." The soldier complied and handed her a sliver pistol.  
  
The other two soldiers readied their AKs as the three of them leapt around the corner and opened fire. They didn't know how many soldiers were around the corner but sprayed the hallway with fire and when it was over, three Black Hole soldiers lie on the ground.  
  
"Take their weapons." Sonja ordered.  
  
They traded their assault rifles for the powerful shotguns and continued on. Approaching the helipad they could see out the window that the yellow copter was still standing by and waiting for Sonja. There was a bunch of Comet soldiers firing off the side of the building and also firing upwards. Sonja rushed outside and jumped into the copter without a second thought. She yelled to the pilot and they began to lift off, but not in time to miss more Black Hole soldiers repelling down from above and taking the other soldiers by surprise.  
  
The Comet troops were brutally slashed by the enemy's combat knives and Sonja watched helplessly as they pulled out their weapons and fired upon her fleeing copter. An explosion rang out above them and smoke began to fill the cabin.  
  
"Miss Sonja! They shot the rear rotor!"  
  
"Try a controlled landing!" She yelled back.  
  
"Hold on!"  
  
The copter went down with flames erupting from the back rotor and impacted the street below. It began to slide across the ground as the landing wheels were taken off on impact. Sonja was thrown forward violently as the copter hit something and halted. The cockpit glass could be heard shattering upon the impact. It was awhile before Sonja got up with a cut across her head and bruises all over her body. She stumbled around the smoking hold of the copter before hearing the door slide open and weapons cock. Before she knew it, she had been yanked out of the copter and thrown to the pavement, her glasses breaking on the impact.  
  
The world around her was blurry and she could recognize several black clad soldiers hovering around her with the muzzles of their gun shoved in her face. She closed her eyes unable to make sense of the orders they were shouting out at her. Just then a heavy boot landed in front of her. She was lifted up by her arms and was handcuffed. A large man in front of her gave a grin.  
  
"Well, whatta we got here. If it isn't the little spy herself. Sonja. I got plans for you."  
  
"You must be Boris, only a complete idiot would allow themselves to be ordered around by Sturm."  
  
This caused another laugh from Boris who grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up into the air.  
  
"Normally, I would rip your skull out. But I'm winning here and I'm a good mood. Besides, I figure you'd be a great deterrent for your old man."  
  
"My capture won't change anything." Sonja choked out.  
  
A cruel grin spread across Boris's face. He look at the soldiers around him and laughed even more than the last time.  
  
"We'll see about that. We'll see! Now, it's sleepy time."  
  
Sonja couldn't tell what they did to her after those last words from Boris. Whether they knocked her out or if she fainted. It didn't change the fact of her capture by Black Hole.  
  
-Next Chapter 6: Yellow Comet Crisis! 


	6. Chapter 6: Yellow Comet Crisis

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 6: Yellow Comet Crisis  
  
Through the powerful scope of the rifle was a great many things. For one, there was a countless amount of smoking chassis of vehicles, and then there was the occasional stray soldier wondering out among the forests. The sights of the scope targeted the soldier in the head, where it would be quickest and the trigger was pulled sending a powerful round screaming out of the barrel of the sniper rifle.  
  
"Shame, these boys have to be comin' up here to make a ruckus." Grit sighed.  
  
He moved back toward the jeep which was parked behind him and threw the rifle into the back seat. The Blue Moon driver waited calmly and watched Grit as he moved toward the passenger side and got in.  
  
"Let's be getting on back to the main forces." Grit ordered.  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
The next thing Grit did was reach for the radio and pressed the transmit button down. The jeep moved up with a start and tossed Grit around in his seat roughly. He grabbed the frame of the windshield and stared at the driver annoyed.  
  
"Easy! What's the rush!"  
  
"What did you say Grit?" Olaf barked out on the other end of the radio.  
  
Now Grit had on one of those 'aw crap' looks and gave a quick glare towards the driver.  
  
"I was saying that there aren't any more Black Hole fellas' out there. It's like they moved out or something."  
  
"Excellent! They've retreated then!" Olaf told Grit cheerfully. "Blue Moon has beaten them back!"  
  
"No, I wouldn't go as far to say something like that boss."  
  
"What? What the hell do you mean by that?"  
  
Both of them could hear the frustration and anger in Olaf's voice and Grit started slowly on his next sentence.  
  
"I'm just saying that these boys played rough. I don't see them running at the last minute just because we put up some resistance."  
  
There was silence on the other end as the driver made their way onto a main road and began to follow it, having to move around some destroyed tanks. Eventually Olaf spoke back as the military base they were going to appeared over the horizon.  
  
"Well, what do you make of it?"  
  
"Something's going on. I don't know what, but I know who I can ask."  
  
"Humph." Olaf responded indignantly. "You mean that Comet girl."  
  
"Her name is Sonja boss. And she's got the most reliable Intel anywhere."  
  
"Very well, if you want to go ask some foreigner for help you go right ahead! But I'd rather rely on Blue Moon Intel any day of the week!"  
  
The line cut rather loudly as if the microphone was being slammed down on a table of some sort. Grit hung up his mic and sat back in the jeep moving his cowboy hat over his eyes and putting his arms behind his head.  
  
"Tell me when we get there, ok kid?" Grit mumbled through his hat.  
  
"Yes Commander Grit."  
  
Any chances for Grit to catch a nap was quickly destroyed by the loud roar of jet engines over head and then the sound of helicopters. In a lighting movement Grit had slid his hat back on his head and looked upwards uneasily.  
  
"Relax Commander, it's just the 101st squadron on a fly by." The driver explained.  
  
"Geez, I was thinkin' it was some surprise bombing run. Where's those helicopters coming from?"  
  
"Orange Star sir. Those Medium Copters are sure impressive."  
  
"Oh yeah, another up close and personal vehicle for Maxie to mess around with. I'm more interested in those long range cruise missiles Black Hole's been using lately to hit us."  
  
They said no more as they approached the base and went through a checkpoint with tanks parked near the entrance. The gates opened up and they drove across an airfield with parked planes toward a large hangar. Grit looked over the jets rather annoyed, he always seemed to get a bunch of stuff he never made practical use of, like bombers. The jeep rolled past the hangars and toward a communications tower where a division of missiles were set up and had their launchers pointed toward the sky.  
  
He got out of the jeep as it pulled up toward the entrance to the comm tower and waved the driver off. There was a couple of Blue Moon intelligence officers relaying orders from time to time and one turned toward Grit as he entered.  
  
"Hey, did you get any word from Sonja yet?"  
  
"Negative sir. We've gotten nothing out of Yellow Comet for the past couple days now."  
  
"Nothing? Are you sure?" Grit asked suspicious.  
  
"Absolutely sir, checked and double checked. We know how important communications from Yellow Comet are."  
  
"That's right, don't you ever forget that. Anything else for me since the fightin' died down?"  
  
The officer sat back down and shuffled through a stack of papers. Grit took of his hat and scratched his head before turning toward the windows saw some of the Orange Star Medium Copters landing for a refueling.  
  
"Well there was one communication from Olaf you all ready received." The officer reported getting Grit's attention back. "Oh, then there was a confirmation from 122nd squadron on Black Hole forces around Yellow Comet shores."  
  
"What? What did they see?"  
  
"Hm... Some cruisers, a score of battleships and some landers."  
  
"What about Kanbei's navy? Any movement from them?"  
  
More shuffling of papers from the officer as Grit turned back toward the copters. There was only one left on the ground and it was pilot less at the time. Then Grit could spy Andy asking around some of the Blue Moon soldiers and he could see they pointed toward the communications tower.  
  
"We have a zero activity on Yellow Comet naval forces. The fly by confirmed this also."  
  
"What the hell is going on? Kanbei not moving his forces to meet the enemy? Somethin' funny is going on down there."  
  
"You want another fly by ordered sir?" The officer asked.  
  
"Naw, no one moves yet. Give me a minute to think."  
  
Just as Grit had anticipated, Andy barged in with a wide grin and a helicopter pilot following him.  
  
"Hey Grit! What's going on? How have you been?"  
  
"Junior... I mean Andy. Howdy. Things have been going smooth ever since you warned us of that attack by Black Hole. We've beaten them back into a corner so to speak. Where did that old guy go?"  
  
"Alexander? He's with Olaf. Anyway, that's great. What about the situation in Orange Star?" He asked again eagerly.  
  
Grit looked upward thinking and eventually turned back toward the comm officer and asked him a couple of questions before getting back to Andy.  
  
"Our forces we sent over there made contact with Nell and Sami. I think things are gonna work out fine over there."  
  
It was easily apparent that some heavy weight had been lifted off Andy's shoulders despite his rambunctious attitude. Grit couldn't help but smile and began to pat his pockets on his jacket. He eventually pulled out an old packet of cigarettes and put one into his mouth.  
  
"Hey Grit. You know what those do you your health?"  
  
"Yeah I know, I just put them in my mouth. I've been told by higher ups that smoking is dangerous around live ammunition and stuff. On another thought..."  
  
This would undoubtedly bring the question of "What" from Andy as Grit fixed his hat, and an explanation would follow as anticipated.  
  
"I haven't heard from Sonja lately, and Yellow Comet forces have been unusually silent down in those parts. Not to mention the Black Hole boys in Blue Moon have been moving out and away from us. I don't quite know what's going on..."  
  
"You think they're planning something big?" Andy asked.  
  
Grit scratched his chin, it was obvious now that something was bothering him as he took a chair from the side of the room and sat down. He divulged more information about the forces floating around Yellow Comet, in clear view from the city and going unchallenged by Kanbei's navy. Andy was able to fill in more blanks since they had some accidental skirmishes inside Yellow Comet when they were trying to chase Olaf down. Now Grit had come to a decision and stood up after hearing Andy's explanation of Kanbei's previous strategies.  
  
"Yeah Grit, that's really weird that Kanbei would just sit there. Hey, what about Sonja's forces?"  
  
"Couldn't find them." Grit explained uneasily. "It's pretty easy to tell by the way their forces are organized, you have Sonja's pristine organization, and then Kanbei's spread formation."  
  
"You don't think?" Andy began.  
  
"Uh-huh. Somethin' bad happened... We gotta find out now."  
  
"We can't just leave here. What if Adder comes back?"  
  
"What'd you say?" Grit asked suddenly.  
  
"I said what if Adder comes..."  
  
"No, hold it right there. Did you say Adder?"  
  
"Yeah, he's the guy who's leading the forces against Blue Moon." Andy explained. "He's a really freaky guy. He's got skin as pale as the moon and he's..."  
  
"I'll be dammed. Sturm is one tricky coyote."  
  
Andy simply held his mouth open and stared at Grit confused. Grit eventually shook his head and led Andy outside.  
  
"Uh.. Nothing. Hey Andy, would you like to take a little field trip?"  
  
----------------------------  
  
Before Andy knew the meaning of Grit's words, they found themselves on a cruiser and heading toward the shores of Yellow Comet. Along with them were a sizeable force of battleships and an equal force of submarines. The Medium Copters that Andy had commanded were sitting on the helipad of the cruiser as they made their way across the ocean. The two COs waited in the control room and looked out across the ocean as the crew moved around running the ship.  
  
"Hey Grit, how are you going to explain this to Olaf?"  
  
"I'll just tell the boss that some Black Hole fellers decided to test our shores for landing, and we gave chase. Besides, Olaf's bent the rules plenty in his favor. I'll just remind him."  
  
"Uh... If you say so." Andy answered uneasily.  
  
It wasn't long before radar picked up some enemies ahead of them and almost instantly the radio buzzed with activity.  
  
"Remember, no one fires till I get a grip of the situation." Grit reminded everyone. "Just hold your horses for a minute."  
  
The comm officer listened carefully over his headphones as the jet black ships of Black Hole appeared as dots on the horizon. The weather was unusually clear and made it incredibly easy to spot each other.  
  
"We got a transmission from the Black Hole commander."  
  
"Let's have some words together." Grit responded.  
  
"Hey, who the hell is this?" An angry voice demanded.  
  
"This is Grit of Blue Moon, I was just about to ask you the same question. All though maybe not as aggressive."  
  
Dead silence came back and an much more uneasy voice eventually responded. Something Grit said had changed his attitude drastically.  
  
"What did you say? Grit? Ah... This is Boris of Black Hole! And if you come any closer to Yellow Comet, I'll bash you!"  
  
This made Grit put on a funny look and he turned toward Andy to get a second opinion. He was thinking the same as Grit and simply shrugged.  
  
"That's a funny way of provoking the enemy, I'd say. Maybe your hiding something?"  
  
"Your not supposed to be here!" Boris yelled back.  
  
"Well, your not supposed to be here either last time I checked." Grit continued to answer coolly. "Maybe I'll come over there and teach you a thing or two about invadin' other people's land. What do you say?"  
  
"I've... I've got Sonja! That's right. You come any closer..."  
  
"And you'll what, partner? Up to now, you've not sounded very convincing about anything. I don't put much attention into anything your saying."  
  
Now Grit's mood was deadly serious and everyone in the command center could feel the tension. Boris continued to stay silent almost as if he was thinking up stuff on the spot. Talking was definitely not his forte Andy decided.  
  
"She'll pay for whatever you do."  
  
"We'll see, you better clear out of these parts. Or I'll be forced to sink every one of those rust buckets you call ships."  
  
"Who do you think you are? Drake?"  
  
The line was closed and Grit turned toward the comm officer.  
  
"All right, it's show time. Everyone open fire, submarines dive and take out all their Landers."  
  
Andy put a hand on Grit's shoulder causing him to turn around.  
  
"You think he really has her?" Andy asked quietly.  
  
"Can't discount the idea. Nothing's impossible nowadays. But I don't think this Boris guy has enough courage to go that far. Besides, if anything were to happen to her." Grit paused. "I know that Kanbei would go ballistic, I don't think Boris wants stir up the hornets nest quite yet."  
  
"I hope your right."  
  
Then they could hear the battleships opening fire and watching the targets in the distance explode as the shells nailed them. The Black Hole ships couldn't fire back with Grit's units so far out of range, but the major concern now was Sonja.  
  
The Black Hole fleet guarding Yellow Comet was in disarray. Their worst enemy had seeming dropped down upon them and their new armor couldn't stand up against the high impact shells from the battleships, or the missiles or rockets launched at them. It took only a matter of moments before Blue Moon was taking the harbor. The gist implied from looking was that Boris had thought the initial forces commanded by Sonja to be a mere nuisance, and there was poor defense forces allotted for the coast. Anyone caught near the landing zones of the Blue Moon Landers were pounded into oblivion. It wasn't long before the initial confrontation was unanimously declared a victory for Blue Moon.  
  
The harbor and some surrounding factories were quickly secured and the area was swept for any unpleasant surprises they could have positioned for the enemy. The compact harbor area was now packed with Blue Moon divisions and units. The place was lit up like a square of a city now that night had descended. It wasn't a surprise to find that no Black Hole soldier wanted to be taken alive, a rather disturbing fact learned in their first fight with Sturm. The twisted ideals of Black Hole provided victory, or death. Grit and Andy had landed after the area was declared clear and looked over the damage.  
  
"Yep, I gotta admit. I never thought I would be opening fire on Yellow Comet land. Visited them plenty of times on occasion otherwise."  
  
"What do you mean you visited Yellow Comet before?" Andy asked as they began to watch the Orange Star helicopters land.  
  
"Well, you could say Sonja asked me to do some intelligence gathering for he at one time."  
  
"Sonja contacted you? Why did you tell us?"  
  
"You never asked before. I believe there was this one foggy day when she sent a communications for me. Blue Moon never said anything about talking to Yellow Comet so I took it. Boy, it sounded like a real tall tale though."  
  
"Tall tale?"  
  
"She was talking about clones and conspiracies. When I asked why she told me all this, she told me that I was a new guy around Blue Moon. That she knew I wasn't in on it because I was in such hot water with Orange Star... Uh... forget that last part."  
  
"Trouble? What are you talking about?"  
  
One of the Blue Moon soldiers had walked up to Grit and saluted before telling them that they had recon had witnessed an obvious concentration of Black Hole forces a couple miles from the harbor. They had all gathered around a large office complex. He also reported that there was numerous Yellow Comet equipment that was smashed and destroyed too.  
  
"Well that settles it. Let's take your new copter toys and my guys in for the kill, how about it?"  
  
"Uh, sure. What are we trying to accomplish exactly?" Andy asked as they began to glance toward the helicopters.   
  
"We're going to break into the base. Your copters are going to make a ruckus, that'll let us in. Once we've searched the area, the main strike will follow."  
  
"Oh I get it." Andy broke in. "A distraction! Yeah, the Medium Copters could give Boris something to shoot at while we take the back way in now that it's dark."  
  
"Yeah you got it. The my guys will pull us out during the main strike."  
  
The plan was for the Orange Star copters to make a mess of the long range defenses and other aerial units while a Blue Moon unit snuck in. Andy soon saw that this had been in Grit's mind for a long time, they were up into the air in a heartbeat. Andy and Grit rode along with the infiltration team in the APCs that had been painted with Black Hole colors. It was an urban layout as they maneuvered their way through a maze of abandoned homes and shops.  
  
"You guys better drive faster, or that distraction ain't gonna be worth a spit and shine carwash." Grit ordered as their vehicles crept along the streets.  
  
"Sorry sir, but we think excessive movement might blow our cover as Black Hole APCs."  
  
"Err... Yeah... Good point. You got that frequency Boris blabbed to me on?" Grit asked again.  
  
"Yes sir, the radio is open on that channel you requested."  
  
"Heh heh, if we had the uniforms, we probably could have walked in." Andy grinned.  
  
"Wouldn't catch me dead in one of those rags." Grit spat. "We had our problems, but everything's gone to hell when Sturm showed up."  
  
Suddenly they could hear Boris shouting out over the radio and some other officers reporting the details to him. It was clear that the Orange Star helicopters had made their presence known. Now the drivers felt the situation was necessary for full throttle and now the APCs rocketed up and down streets. They noticed a couple stray divisions of those walking tanks making their way up and down the street but kept going. With the night and the black colors of the enemy, it was nearly impossible to spot some APCs darting about the streets.  
  
It didn't take long before they managed to drive past some crashed helicopters and noticed their Yellow Comet colors. But they kept going and managed to squeeze by check points set up by the Black Hole soldiers since they were currently under attack and mistaken the APCs for their own. They went into the parking garage and quickly pulled up next to the entrance to the building. One of the soldiers turned toward Grit and handed him a gun.  
  
"Here's your AK sir."  
  
Grit then proceeded to hand it over to Andy.  
  
"You know how to use this?" Grit asked earnestly.  
  
Without saying anything Andy took the assault rifle and cocked it before placing the stock up against his shoulder and aiming it.  
  
"I've gotten weapons training and it's pretty similar to the M4 Orange Star uses. Besides, what are you going to use?"  
  
"I think machine guns are a waste of ammunition." Grit explained as he pulled out a revolver. "Six bullets are more than enough if you hit them in the right spots. If I have to kill someone, I'd rather just do it, instead of turning them into a piece of Swiss cheese."  
  
"Ha, know I know why you and Max don't see eye to eye." Andy laughed, but his cheerful expression didn't last long as they began to move out of the APCs into the parking garage.  
  
Some of the Blue Moon soldiers began to take up positions behind support poles and around the APCs as the explosions and gunfire outside began to die down. The others waited on Grit who looked around and then started toward the entrance leading toward the tower. Upon entering, they worked their way through a small hallway checking corners finding halls with bullet holes and shattered glass in doors.  
  
"Looks like the Yellow Comet soldiers here didn't go down without a fight." Andy commented.  
  
They continued on and soon entered a large main entrance hall. Most of the wall was glass and they could clearly see outside some smoking wreck of what was once a military vehicle. There was all kind of Black Hole troops running all about the place, most were armed with the trademark machine gun they were known for. The odd compact machine guns with the clip running along the top side of the gun. Others were trying to put fires out. The Blue Moon soldiers kept low and hid behind some chairs and tables as they worked their way toward two large set of stairs, one went up and the other went down.  
  
"Um... Which way do we go?" Andy wondered aloud.  
  
"I'd say hiding someone in the tower is too dangerous. A stray missile or crashing aerial unit could do some damage, let's move downwards." Grit advised.  
  
They all descended into the basement which was being patrolled much more heavily than a floor above. There was soldiers standing next to doors and walking up and down the hallways. They could hear the footsteps and readied their weapons before moving out around a corner and opening fire. The Blue Moon soldiers were all crack shots and there was hardly any chance for the Black Hole soldiers to exchange fire before they were hit and taken down.  
  
"Area secure. We can check the rooms." The captain reported.  
  
Grit and Andy walked a little further down the hall to carefully glance through the small windows on each of the doors. Some opened up into large areas while others were simple storage closets. It was then Andy called down the hall toward the other soldiers and got their attention. They moved down the hall and could see that the room Andy had brought them to was an empty mess hall. Sonja was clearly handcuffed to a chair inside and there was no guards.  
  
"Aw hell." Grit muttered.  
  
"I know, there's no one guarding the place. Not to mention that security down here is too light to be protecting some important prisoner."  
  
"Commander, I don't like this. It reeks of a trap." One of the soldiers added.  
  
"Probably explosives somewhere." Andy thought aloud. "Armed by a trip wire, or some motion detection."  
  
Suddenly a door opened down the hall and a Black Hole soldier stumbled out of a door holding his stomach and keeping his gun on his back with a strap. The Blue Moon soldiers instantly turned their weapons on him and yelled out. The surprised Black Hole soldier had his hands up in a second.  
  
"Don't shoot! I just got out of the bathroom!"  
  
"Heh, so they are human after all." Grit commented. "What's your name?"  
  
"Johnny!"  
  
"So, Johnny, you know anything about this room right here?"  
  
The Blue Moon soldiers quickly brought over Johnny and took his weapon from him. They also stripped him of any other sort of communication devices. The next thing they did was force him to take a look through the window and he nodded.  
  
"Yeah... Some Yellow Comet prisoner." He told them.  
  
"We know that. We want to know about the booby traps!" Andy demanded.  
  
Johnny shook his head but jumped as he felt the muzzle of one of the assault rifles up against his back. They could hear his breath quiver and they waited patiently.  
  
"Uh... Ok, I remember something about... Something behind the kitchen counter that's in the room." The muzzle was pressed harder up against his back. "I swear that's all I was told! Now if you don't mind... Urrgg.... My stomach... Can I go back to the bathroom now?"  
  
"Lock him in there." Grit ordered.  
  
Slowly they entered the mess hall and noticed the kitchen counter Johnny had mentioned. Andy kept close to the wall as he worked his way over toward the counter on the other side of the room and paused to take a look at Sonja. She was either asleep or unconscious at the moment but for the overall, she looked healthy and unharmed. Her glasses had fallen off her face and had skidded across the floor. Andy picked them up and continued toward the bomb. He reached the counter and looked behind it to see a huge stack of C4 behind it. A red light was flashing and there was some sort of transmitter on it.  
  
"Whoa..."  
  
"Andy, what's going on?"  
  
"There's a huge load of C4 back here! Check the door."  
  
Grit did so with some of the other soldiers and noticed there was some sort of scanner on each side of the door.  
  
"Some kind of scanner set up like a metal detector. What the hell is going on?"  
  
"Uh... I'm not quite sure. If it was programmed to blow if we stepped through, it's ether not working or something else triggers it. But I'm positive there's no motion detector."  
  
With that Grit went over to Sonja and carefully aimed his revolver to break the chain on the cuffs. Sonja began to move drowsily after the gunshot echoed throughout the room. She looked up and gasped as she saw Grit and leaped up from her chair to give him a hug.  
  
"Whoa. I trust Black Hole hasn't been keeping to good company with you?" Grit asked uneasily.  
  
"Grit what are you doing here? I never would have thought you would be here." Sonja asked regaining her composure. "Did my father send you?"  
  
"Actually, I got concerned when you didn't give your regular report. That reminds me, you've gotta stop getting captured. Did they hurt you in any way?  
  
Sonja smiled weakly and lowered her head.  
  
"It seems like a I have a streak of bad luck... As for the interrogation, no. Nothing physical, but they performed various psychological methods. They didn't let me sleep for extended periods of time, and locked me in small bug infested rooms. You know how I hate bugs... Can we leave now?"  
  
"Well, there in lies the problem. Andy says there's a purty big load of explosives behind that counter."  
  
Sonja looked across the room to spy Andy who gave a friendly wave back and then walked over to him.  
  
"Andy? Never mind. I'm sure it's a long story. So this is our problem eh?" She looked over the explosives carefully. "Some sort of transmitted trigger sets it off."  
  
"Yeah. There's some sort of scanner over by the door. Oh yeah, here's your glasses. They fell off your face when you were unconscious."  
  
Sonja froze and took the glasses and looked at them hard, she looked back toward the door and then set them down on the counter.  
  
"Something wrong?" Grit asked.  
  
"My glasses broke when they shot down my copter. These are some sort of replacement, but I know I didn't have them during the interrogation. They aren't even the right prescription."  
  
Andy stood up from the bomb and picked the glasses up looking at them thoroughly. He then looked up toward Grit and Sonja and nodded.  
  
"I get it now! These are the transmitters to the bomb! If we take Sonja out of the room when she was wearing these..."  
  
"It would have been some holiday fireworks show." Grit finished.  
  
The room heaved with an explosion from above and gunshots resumed. They moved out of the room and could hear the whistling of artillery and rockets raining down on the ground.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
"That Sonja, is what we call the Calvary. Come on, they've probably seen the main forces by now. I think it's safe to go out the front. If it isn't, well we'll do what we do in the movies until a transport gets us out."  
  
Sonja leaned down and picked up one of the P90s from the fallen Black Hole soldiers. She cocked the weapon and looked back toward Grit.  
  
"A highly illogical strategy. But at this rate, I don't think Boris can hold up any longer. I was right about the indirect strategy. Boris's new armor is not designed to take the pounding of long distance shells."  
  
"Good for us, can we go now!" Andy urged.  
  
They said no more as the Blue Moon soldiers, and everyone else went back upstairs and moved toward the main entrance. They exited out into the parking lot seeing that most of the Black Hole army had moved forward to fight the advancing Blue Moon army. For the most part, they were clear. They began to run to the center of the parking lot before the firing of a tank cannon split the air and exploded in the midst's of the Blue Moon soldiers. The group of soldiers went flying as Grit, Andy, and Sonja froze and looked across the parking lot to where the shot had come from.  
  
One of the powerful walking tanks approached them with the main cannon aimed directly on them. It crushed a parked car and shook the ground each time one of the four legs came down. A top hatch opened up and Boris emerged with a wide grin.  
  
"Well, well, well. Looky here. It's the crack shot, the kid, and the spy."  
  
"You better talk fast Boris. You men are getting cut down." Sonja pointed out while aiming her gun at him.  
  
Boris gave a glance over to the front line and shrugged. He instead gripped a mounted gun on the walking tank and let out a laugh.  
  
"So you discovered a little chink in my armor. Good job. But I swear, you won't live to enjoy it!"  
  
He pulled the trigger and the three COs scattered as machine gun fire hailed down around the place where they stood. Grit began to aim his gun but was forced to abandon a shot as Boris turned his gun toward him. Sonja began to shoot as Boris was turned away from her but he ducked as the bullets missed and hit the hatch making ping sounds. Andy had moved toward some of the soldiers who were caught in the blast and searched them for something other than a gun. Grit had taken up position behind a car and fired a round from his revolver and nailed Boris in the helmet causing his head to whip back and hit the hatch cover. The main cannon suddenly opened fire as Grit was taking a second shot and launched the car across the lot nearly squashing him in the process.  
  
Andy had managed to scrounge up a couple of grenades and tossed one to Sonja while running back toward her. He met back up with Sonja behind a car and could see the panicked look on her face.  
  
"Andy, I can't... There's no way I could get this to land..." She stammered.  
  
"Look, just try. Your not cursed or anything like that. I know it."  
  
She gulped and took a deep breath before moving out with Andy toward the tank and pulled the pin. Boris had swiveled the turret back toward her and held the trigger down noticing the live grenade in her hand. She threw it before diving toward the ground to avoid the bullets and covered her head. The grenade had managed to wedge itself in the joint of the leg to the tank.  
  
"Oh hell!" Boris yelled closing the hatch.  
  
The grenade went off and caused scraps of metal to rain down around the tank. Andy paused and watched as the leg wiggled and moved haphazardly. The blast had damaged the leg tremendously and caused an imbalance in the tank. Boris re-emerged from the hatch and gripped the gun again.  
  
"Die! Die! You hear me? Die!" Boris hollered out loud.  
  
"You first!" Andy yelled back throwing the grenade. "Grit! Snipe Attack!"  
  
He noticed the grenade tumbling through the air and aimed his revolver and pulled the trigger. His bullet caused it to explode right over Boris causing his ears to ring and the fragments to rain down on him.  
  
"AHHH!" Boris yelled out painfully. "ARRRRGGGGHHH!"  
  
Andy glanced down at the remaining grenade in his hand and pulled the pin before giving a firm glance toward Boris and finally throwing it. It bounced off the hatch and fell down into the bowels of the tank. They could see Boris's eyes widen as he felt the grenade bounce of his back and down into the tank. He began to climb out cussing and yelling and managed to get his legs clear from the hatch before the grenade went off and launched him clear from the turret.  
  
"Yeah! Nice one Andy!"  
  
The tank began to stumble around as the driver was clearly killed in the blast. Soon the tank shells stored inside were set off by the explosion blowing the walking tank clear down the middle. The two halves fell down in a smoking wreck as Boris hit the ground and rolled to a stop. He was lying on his back and breathing shallowly as the three walked over and looked down on him.  
  
"Your... your all dead... When Sturm and the rest of Dark Star find out..."  
  
"Find out about what?" Andy challenged.  
  
"Easy there. He's entitled to some final words." Grit told Andy firmly.  
  
"When... they.. find out that I'm dead... You'll be too..."  
  
Boris closed his eyes and held his breath as a surge of pain went through him. When it subsided, he turned toward Andy and balled one of his fists. His other arm reached up and removed the red goggles that hid his eyes. When he removed them he looked back up toward Andy.  
  
"Take a good look kid. I thought I could show you... What I could do... to your Orange Star superiors..."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Andy asked.  
  
"You don't get it... I was like you once... I thought... I thought I could make a difference... But I was denied even that... By your... superiors. They called me reckless... that my methods were too destructive..."  
  
They're attention was all focused on Boris piercing eyes and they could hardly tear their vision away from them.  
  
"But in reality, they didn't... have the guts... to get the job done. You were all too caught up... in your idea that Orange Star was some kind of... protectorate of peace or something... But your just a military... Your nothing more."  
  
Sonja nodded her head and turned away as Andy was clearly confused. Boris closed his eyes and turned his head straight up into the air.   
  
"Death from above."  
  
He opened them again and simply stared upwards until he nodded off. Soon they could see that his chest no longer rose and fell.  
  
"He used to be Orange Star?"  
  
"Yes Andy. He did. It just dawned upon me that these Black Hole COs were most likely all a part of a military somewhere."  
  
There was a morbid silence between them all. But Grit soon broke it with a sigh and looked up from Boris's body.  
  
"Speaking of. We still got three more of these guys running around attacking who they please. We gotta stop them too, even if it they used to be with us or someone else. Sturm can't get a hold on our lives again."  
  
"Yes we do. I should tell my father of these developments. You two should return to your countries until I can find out more about their new plans."  
  
With that, Andy and Grit began to walk toward the advancing Blue Moon lines as Sonja followed after them slowly.  
  
-Chapter 7: Dark Star Dogfight 


	7. Chapter 7: Dark Star Dogfight

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 7: Dark Star Dogfight  
  
The storm raged on around the Green Earth fleet. It seemed like nothing smart would have been out in this storm. The seas swelled like someone was detonating explosives under the surface and even Drake himself would have admitted, it was one of the roughest seas he had ever sailed before. The green colored ships would appear to ramp over the huge waves that went under them and sometimes into them. What made it worse, was that someone was flying out in this storm, and gunning for them. In one of the battleships Drake and his crew scrambled around the cramped hallways toward the bridge where reports from ships all over the area were getting hit, hard.  
  
Drake had lost some weight since his last encounter with Black Hole. For years he had managed to avoid the Green Earth regulations concerning size, but eventually it caught up with him. It was enough so that his stomach didn't pop out anymore. He was straightening his hat as he barged onto the bridge and looked out across the raging seas.  
  
"What en' blue blazes is goin' on out there?"  
  
"A squadron of jets are attacking us!" One of the sailors reported. "It's Black Hole, they're hitting us in this storm!"  
  
"Barnacles! Sturm just doesn't give us a break does he?" Drake bellowed.  
  
It had been almost customary to every officer that talked to Drake would be deafened by his loud voice. But it was good in tight situations to get control. It was almost impossible not to hear him or to not understand his orders. Somewhere out among the battleships and Landers something streaked across the sky leaving a smoke trail. In the moments following it an explosion rang out on one of the Landers decks. Then the area would erupt in anti-air fire coming from the cruisers. Needless to say it was literally taking a shot in the dark. The black jets blended in perfectly with the storm and only the smoke trails gave evidence that there was even a squadron of jets attacking them.  
  
"This is impossible. We can't even see what we're shooting at!" The sailor complained to Drake."  
  
"It's only gonna' get worse when they bring out the bombers." Drake muttered.  
  
As if on some terrible cue, the loud whistling sound could be heard even from within the bridge of the battleship. But to Green Earth's relief, they only heard a splashing sound and watched as water was thrown into the air by the explosions.  
  
"Well I'll be! This storm isn't against us after all! Those bombers couldn't hit the broad side of a blue whale!" Drake exclaimed. "We need to get Eagle's jets out here now!"  
  
------------------------  
  
But Eagle was nowhere near Drake's location out at sea on the western ocean of Green Earth. He was much farther in land trying to deal with the Black Hole forces that were pouring in from the Blue Moon border. Intel immediately identified the moving forces as Adder's as they only moved at night. So far the front line had been constant, it seemed that they stopped Adder from coming any further into Green Earth. The line had been drawn just a couple of miles south of the Blue Moon / Green Earth border and things had quieted down.  
  
Eagle was moving about one of the airbases as they tried to assess what was going on through the chaos of the random skirmishes that were going on. There would be an exchange of fire here, and then a full blown push by tanks over here. Adder had made engagements so random that it was hardly possible to coordinate a bombing run. By the time it was up in the air and reached the target, Adder's forces were gone and had disappeared into the deep forests where most of the fighting was going on.  
  
"We have more sightings of anti-air and missiles sir." The communications officer reported snapping Eagle out of his daze.  
  
"Try to get some more recon moving out about those forests. If Adder is trying to play some sick game of cat and mouse with me. I want to make him pay for it." Eagle answered firmly.  
  
"It's strange sir. It's almost like he's waiting for something."  
  
"Dammit. Why can't they just move out and attack all ready? They have to play these games with me!"  
  
The two moved up the air-traffic control tower until they could see over the majority of the runways. The view could show the organization and the anticipation with a line of fighter jets ready to take off at a moments notice. There was all ready an large number of jets taking off and landing at the moment.  
  
"What's going on with Drake?" Eagle asked next.  
  
"We were getting to that sir, there's a call from his fleet. It's urgent."  
  
Eagle nodded and the officer sat down and hit a button. Instantly there was the roar of jet engines in the distance and the rat-a-tat-tat of anti-air fire. Drake was currently ordering something to one of the sailors as the line was opened up.  
  
"-no one gets through! Shoot them down!"  
  
"Drake? What's going on?" Eagle began. "Your under attack?"  
  
"Eagle! Thank Neptune. You won't believe this. But there's a squadron of insane pilots out here taking pot shots at us in a storm! We're like fish en' a barrel! You gotta send someone out here before we... What the hell!"  
  
The engines were louder than before and more constant. If Eagle wasn't mistaken it sounded like some jet was revving it's engines right over Drake. The sound began to die away and Drake's voice could be heard once again.  
  
"I don't believe this! They got a jet that floats around like a helicopter! It was flying around the bridge just taunting us!"  
  
"A harrier! Sturm's forces have harrier jets!?" Eagle cried out, stunned. "Hold on Drake, I'll send squadrons to meet you from the..."  
  
The transmission was soon cut off and the line was dead. The control tower was silent for a couple of moments as the officers tried different lines. Eventually the transmission came back, but Drake was no longer the voice on the other end.  
  
"Eagle... I'm rather disappointed in you." A cold voice began. "The place an commanding officer is supposed to be is out on the field with their troops. I know that's where I am."  
  
The com officers turned toward Eagle slowly with faces full of confusion. They could see that this voice had froze him, and the mic had begun to slip out of his hand. However this did not last long as he gripped the mic and pressed the button to respond.  
  
"Who the hell..."  
  
"It's obvious who I am Eagle. I went missing during those turbulent years of civil war. And Sturm found me. Right now your committing a rather embarrassing act of hiding behind a line of soldiers watching them do your work for you. Why... Drake is on the lines. Why aren't you?"  
  
"Shut the hell up! Just shut up! How do you know anyway? If your where you say you are."  
  
"Adder was telling me, your nowhere to be seen, he's rather fond of the idea that he would kill you before I could... My son."  
  
"I'm not going to do some reckless action just because you think you can get under my skin!" Eagle declared. "Drake is going to shoot you out of the sky..."  
  
Laughing cut him off before he could finish his sentence and it was chillingly confident. The sound was verbal cancer and it was getting Eagle angrier by the minute. His gloves showed how tightly Eagle gripped the mic and his teeth were clenched. There were beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead.  
  
"That's a lie. And you know it. The harriers makes Drake's particular situation even worse. Anyway, I'll just litter the bottom of the ocean with the Green Earth fleet and I'll see you later. By the way, you haven't forgotten to fly now have you?"  
  
The line was cut and soon Drake's voice rocketed back into the air.  
  
"Eagle! Eagle! What ever he said to you. Don't come out here. Your pilots can handle it. Have a little faith in them."  
  
"No..." Eagle started slowly. "He's better than that. His pilots are too good."  
  
"Look. Your a little emotional over this. Why don't you let your subordinate take over while you cool off."  
  
"Yes... Right. Of course. I'll send the fighters out to meet your forces immediately."  
  
There was a long silence from Drake who eventually was satisfied with the response and the line was closed. The com officers began to scramble some of the squadrons on the ground as soon as Eagle put the mic up. He stared out across the runway at the green fighter jets and seemed distant compared to everyone else. A part of his mind was searching for the last time he was up in a jet. The frustration and the anger made it nearly impossible, he knew he had flown before, but when was escaping him.  
  
He vaguely heard the voice of the com officer next to him before he turned with a determined look and pointed at the officer.  
  
"Get me a jet." Eagle demanded.  
  
"But who will be in charge..."  
  
"Natasha, Natasha Gustav is a capable officer. She'll be in command while I'm gone."  
  
"Yes sir..."  
  
But Eagle was all ready on his way to the tarmac.  
  
--------------------------  
  
Most of the Green Earth ships had nothing to fire at, but there was plenty being fire at them. The submarines were frantically searching the area for aircraft carriers from where these planes were coming from. The cruisers fired into the air almost randomly the rain and dark clouds overhead made it impossible to simply lock onto one jet and shoot them down. The Black Hole fighters would rocket down in between the ships close to the waters and launch missiles at the hulls trying to punch a hole through them. Others used heavy machine guns to pepper the armaments on the ships trying to cause some sort of explosion.  
  
Drake's battleship had been taken damage as well, but nothing to give the order to abandon ship. Even if they did evacuate everyone on it, the storm would surely make quick work of them. It wasn't until a couple hours into the fight that there was a notable lead jet among the others. It's cockpit windows were mirrored unlike the stained black cockpit windows of the other jets. This had been the same jet that taunted Drake by flying in front of it.  
  
Suddenly a cruisers hull buckled under another missile explosion and was split into two. A chain of smaller explosions lit up the battle as some of the jets were illuminated in its light. Drake could see the explosions from where his battleship floated and had a nervous expression.  
  
"I hope those guys get here soon!" Drake thought aloud.  
  
More jets rocketed past, but these were slower that the breakneck speeds the Black Hole jets moved at. They were still fast but more noticeable, and an obviously different army. These new jets passed over the sinking cruiser and their green colors could be seen more clearly. Instantly Drake perked up and went to the radio.  
  
"Hey, you guys got orders from Eagle?"  
  
"Roger sir. This is the Dagger squadron on loan from Rotgers Airbase. We've been ordered to take on and take down some flies, over."  
  
They flew in and began to look over the damaged ships that the Black Hole jets had hit since they began attacking and soon began to split up to take targets.  
  
"All right Daggers, keep and eye out. These guys are fast."  
  
And it was true, these Black Hole pilots were pulling turns at dangerous speeds. Something about them made it so that the storm played very little in their flight plans and the group of fighters were breaking formation and splitting up.  
  
"Copy that Dagger 1. I got one of em in a lock." Dagger 2 called out to the others.  
  
"Watch it, make sure your lock does not hit the fleet."  
  
"As anticipated Dagger 1." The same pilot responded coolly.  
  
The Green Earth squadron broke up formation as well and began to try and tail the speeding Black Hole jets. Dagger 2 had finally launched the missile as they cleared the fleet and darted about the open ocean. The targeted Black Hole fighter spun as it pulled up and had turned itself around heading directly back toward Drake's fleet. The other Daggers could see what the fighter was trying to pull as the missile was barely catching up with it's target. The fighter with the missile in tow, weaved in and out of the battleships and eventually caused the missile to hit one of the Green Earth ships.  
  
The missile had hit a section of the large main cannons sticking out of the front and soon caused them to collapse making the front half of the battleship inoperative. The black jet pulled up and over back into the main group.  
  
"Damn! I was too far away!"  
  
The Dagger squadron was back up into the air and trying to close the gap between their fighters and the enemy. The Daggers could see that the sleek Black Hole jets resembled something of an Orange Star design, which wasn't overall surprising since Sturm's first forces were mere copies of Orange Star designs. They had begun to switch to machine gun fire after seeing how easily their missiles were avoided and soon the dark cloudy sky was lit up like a neon light. The cruisers had stopped their anti-air fire now that there was friendly units in the air.  
  
Anyone on a ship could see that the black jets weren't initially concerned with the Green Earth squadron that had appeared and just avoided them for the time being. It wasn't until a second Green Earth squadron arrived that they really began to turn on the enemy fighters around them. Now they were outnumbered 5 to 10, but the numbers were quickly changing.  
  
"Daggers, we have Vector squadron and three more enemies incoming. Watch yourselves."  
  
The three new Black Hole jets joining the melee quickly began to launch missiles as they appeared. The closest targets being fired upon was Daggers 2, 3, and 5. All of them broke from their targets to take evasive maneuvers. During the break away, the lead jet had targeted Dagger 2 and began to open fire with machine guns. There was only so much time to avoid so many things and the wing of Dagger 2 was ripped clear from the jet. The ocean swelled and almost seemed to gobble up the downed fighter.  
  
"Dagger squadron, this is Eagle. The lead Black Hole jet is mine."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"You heard me." Eagle repeated firmly.  
  
Eagle's jet wasn't marked in anyway, but his lucky goggles were clearly seen hanging around his neck over his flight suit. As he had declared, he instantly flew after it dodging the machine gun fire that began to erupt from the other Black Hole jets. One of the jets missed him by meters and immediately following that he got no more fire from the other Black Hole jets. Instead their turned their fire back on the Vector and Dagger fighters.  
  
"He wants this to be between him and me..." Eagle muttered pushing the throttle harder and attempting to catch up with the blazing jet ahead of him.  
  
Meanwhile the Black Hole squadron had taken the fight back toward the fleet and used the ships in order to escape. They flew dangerously low to the ocean speeding down and then rocketing up behind the Green Earth fighters.  
  
"Vector 3, you got two on you! Move it!" Dagger 5 yelled out.  
  
There was an effort to follow this advice, but the jets were far to fast to outrun. Vector 3 would pull to the right and almost go into a roll, but the Black Hole fighters were still following relentlessly.  
  
"Damn! They're too fast! I've never seen pilots who push the throttle so hard in my life!"  
  
Three of the Daggers had managed to break away from the fighters chasing them and instantly headed toward Vector 3. One of the Daggers had switched to missiles in a risky move while the other two fired off their machine guns. The missile this time was heading nearly straight down rather than chasing after the Black Hole fighter and easily impacted it blowing it up into smithereens. The debris clipped the other fighter and sent it spinning off out of control.  
  
"Two birds with one stone!" Dagger 1 cried out.  
  
"Yeah, something like that." Vector 3 responded with a sigh.  
  
They all were to caught up in the fight to notice how far Eagle's fighter and the lead jet had strayed away from Drake's fleet. The two now flew around high in the air and changed places constantly from hunter to hunted. Every once and awhile the lead jet would dive and disappear into the storm clouds only to suddenly appear behind Eagle with machine guns blazing. Eagle would try to pull up above the lead jet to go over and behind him. He would get a missile lock and fire only to watch the lead jet go into a barrel roll and once again disappear into the clouds.  
  
"Where did he go?" Eagle exclaimed now finding himself alone.  
  
"Dagger 1! Watch it! The lead jet's back!" The Vector leader warned.  
  
"No!" Eagle cried out.  
  
He spun his fighter around and began to head back toward Drake's fleet. It seemed like the lead jet had unleashed some unseen sort of talent and had began to pick off the fighters in the Dagger squadron. Now the fight had evened itself out, 6 to 6. Some bright sunlight had begun to seep through the storm that had begun to retreat and the black jets were far more visible without the cover of rain and darkness. Eagle had managed to find the lead jet again and pushed the jet as hard as it could go in order to make up ground. Soon he was right behind him and pressed a switch on the stick.  
  
"I got a surprise for you, Hawke."  
  
A large cylinder shaped object under the right wing opened up and soon began to fire missiles at a constant rate. They also tracked the heat emitted from the engines and began to slam into the lead jet one after another. What they lacked in power was soon made up by number and the red engines soon turned to a black smoke and it soon began to go down. There was no ejector seat that escaped from the lead jet as it splashed down into the ocean and began to skid across it like a raft. The speeds soon ripped anything that wasn't part of the main body. Wings, tail fins and any sort of exposed landing gear was ripped clean off.  
  
Some of the sailors had begun to aim their guns off the side of the ship toward the plane as it was barely floating in the center of the damaged fleet. Eagle slowed down and tilted his plane trying to see the pilot as the cockpit hatch was ripped off by the impact as well. The pilot was dead and he could see brown hair and then the face as the head rolled back showing the face of death.  
  
"No... That wasn't him... It wasn't him... What am I doing out here?" Eagle began to stammer. "What's going on here? It wasn't him..."  
  
"Commander Eagle! You won't believe this, the Black Hole forces in Blue Moon have managed to push into the country!" The Vector leader explained to him. "Drake just relayed it from the mainland."  
  
Eagle turned his fighter back toward Green Earth with a face full of anger and hearing more about the Black Hole invasion from the north. He gritted his teeth and began to shake his head.  
  
-Next Chapter: Countdown 


	8. Chapter 8: Countdown

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 8: Countdown  
  
Adder looked over the piles of scrap metal that had once been Green Earth tanks. He had seen almost immediate change in strategy after Eagle was lured away from homeland defense out into the surrounding waters on his little dogfight. The person left in charge was a good officer, but not as near as clever to combat Adder's nighttime strategies. Now it was a clear drive toward the launch sites where the other two Dark Star members would meet up. Even though he was closest, he would arrive last now escorting a large semi truck with a flatbed trailer. On the flatbed was a large cylindrical object draped over in heavy black tarp. Tight wires also secured the object to the flatbed making sure it would not roll off of be wedged loose if it hit a bump in the road.  
  
A Black Hole soldier was behind the wheel of the truck while Adder sat in the passenger seat. The semi truck moved at speeds almost as fast as a medium tank and had the mobility of a rocket truck. The eighteen wheels would move over nothing but pavement and flat fields. The load it carried permitted no tight turns, or high inclines. Since air superiority was so plentiful in Green Earth's history, there was no helicopters or jets to assist this operation, only anti air and missiles.  
  
They had not run into Green Earth units for awhile now and the highway they used was mostly abandoned since they overtook the defending forces in the last skirmish. Adder had been using a long range walky-talky for communications and was currently engaged in a conversation.  
  
"So it worked then, your finally over the border inside Green Earth boundaries?" Hawke asked.  
  
"Yes, as you said it would." Adder answered. "The replacement Eagle assigned wasn't as good as he thought. Now all I have to do is deliver the weapon to the launch site and Sturm's rule will be uncontested, no matter what happens to Dark Star."  
  
"Yes... Even if we have no standing forces. Cosmo Land will always be under the umbrella of Black Hole."  
  
Adder paused and seemed to be in thought but soon went back to his conversation.  
  
"Have you heard? They killed Boris. Blue Moon took him out during his Yellow Comet operation." Adder explained slowly.  
  
Hawke seemed to heave a sigh over the radio but his unshaken voice continued to exist in his words.  
  
"I've heard, but I don't know about Sheila. She'll certainly be disappointed."  
  
"Anyway, what is Drake's navy like now?"  
  
"Crippled, my squadron made sure that it won't be a problem for Sheila to arrive on the schedule we arranged. Her landing will commence without problems."  
  
"You think they're onto us?"  
  
The sound of the truck bouncing up and down as it hit a pothole in the road filled the silence as Hawke thought the question over.  
  
"We never planned on Yellow Comet being part of the equation. We still haven't found out how Sonja gets her information. Exercise extreme caution."  
  
"Of course Hawke. Adder out."  
  
The road continued to be a straight shot with the units in front and behind along with recon miles ahead of the convoy. He had a sure feeling that there was nothing he couldn't handle in between his destination and where he was now. Adder glanced in the rearview mirror and put on a cruel smile thinking about what the weapon was going to do when it was launched.  
  
----------------------------  
  
Eagle ran his hands through his hair in frustration and gazed at the floor. His eyes followed the bright yellow caution strips of the hangar and the roar of engines could be heard in the background. By now after Adder had broken through the lines and headed into Green Earth word had gotten around quickly. The airbase he had left from was no longer any use after Adder's forces had nearly destroyed it. Anything caught on the ground was ripped up by rockets and well placed anti-air made sure anything that got off the ground was grounded quickly. All he could think about was that this hadn't been the first time his emotions had controlled him, and he didn't learn from it.  
  
"You wanna talk about it?" Was the first words that had been spoken to him ever since he climbed out of the jet.  
  
"No. I don't."  
  
He looked up to see Drake with his arms crossed and soon looked back toward the floor of the hangar.  
  
"This wasn't..." Drake began.  
  
"The first time." Eagle finished. "I know, I know."  
  
Drake's heavy boots made it possible for Eagle to follow his movements to the wall beside him. He could hear the captain take off his hat and look out across the airport.  
  
"These guys know what they're doing Eagle. They don't make mistakes as far as I've seen. Everything they do is for a reason. Hawke doesn't taunt you because he's arrogant. He does it because he knows where to push and knows how to get what he wants. You know that Natasha wasn't qualified to deal with the likes of Adder."  
  
Eagle whipped his head up and gave a glare at Drake. By now he had gotten use to Eagle's tempers and simply shrugged it off and waited till he looked away.  
  
"Do you enjoy pointing out the obvious? You knew before I did that the Andy that attacked wasn't actually him."  
  
Drake let out a sigh and took a step away from the wall.  
  
"Aye, didn't listen to me then either. It took Sonja to make you change your objectives."  
  
"So what do we do now?"  
  
"Find Adder, he's the only one with Black Hole forces inside Green Earth. That squadron you engaged went back toward the Round Island."  
  
The scream of jets soaring overhead accompanied Eagle as he stood up and straightened up. He turned toward Drake and crossed his arms.  
  
"Well, we know that there's nothing on Round Island. It would be a waste of time to follow them. Harriers have an unprecedented range."  
  
Before anymore could be said a soldier with a radio backpack walked toward them both and saluted.  
  
"Sirs, I have an urgent call for Eagle."  
  
He nodded and then handed over a large phone. Drake put his hat back on and watched Eagle carefully as the transmission was fuzzy at first. It then cleared out and they waited. The first sound that came through was a truck engine, the next was a laugh.  
  
"This is Adder. How was the dogfight? I heard you shot one down." A cruel voice asked calmly.  
  
"Adder! You cocky bastard. You like disrupting our transmissions just so you..."  
  
Drake put his hand over the receiver and then took the phone from Eagle but not without difficulty. He put the phone to his ear and turned away from Eagle with a serious expression.  
  
"This is Captain Drake. You want to get to the point?"  
  
There was another laugh that came through.  
  
"Drake... Oh yes, the fat sea captain. I've heard you've lost weight. So I trust you don't look anymore like a whale now?"  
  
Adder got no response from Drake who continued wait for an answer to his previous question.  
  
"Just calling. We're in your territory after all. Isn't it customary for the enemy COs to exchange some words before fighting? That's how you did it the last war."  
  
"We're done talking. Your in hot water now."  
  
"Yes well, let's just hope you send Eagle's top notch pilots instead of your pathetic excuse for flight crew after me. See you when the moon comes out."  
  
Adder said no more as the line went dead and silence filled the hangar.  
  
"Blast! They're playing with us." Eagle stated as Drake ended the call. "We have to get control over this situation. I'm going after him Drake, whether you like it or not."  
  
"Use your head this time then."  
  
Eagle left the hanger with the same expression of fiery rage he had when Hawke had taunted him. When he had left the hangar, Drake shook his head and left as well with the soldier.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
The rain carried and air of war with it. It was the same storm that raged around Drake's navy and now had moved inland to Blue Moon. There were hardly any soldiers caught outside in the rain. They had gotten cover or wallowed in misery as they were drenched. Vehicles stalled in the rain, something to do with the type of tires and treads they used that did not work well in wet surfaces. All the Blue Moon jets and copters were nearly grounded, a light presence was in the air and even fly bys were done in long intervals. The majority of Grit's forces had returned from Yellow Comet and he himself was meeting with Olaf near the capital, Fort Stormy.  
  
The Orange Star Medium copters sat out in the rain sticking out like a sore thumb contrary to the other blue painted units around them. As of now, if anyone was anywhere near the main compound they could hear the nearly unending rant of the supreme Commander Olaf.  
  
"What the hell do you mean? Moving into Green Earth?" Olaf bellowed. "You better start making sense Grit! I'm not even going into the fact you moved into Yellow Comet without permission!"  
  
Grit was chewing on his cigarette during Olaf's angry speech and looked down at him with a tired expression. Andy stood next to him but kept back not wanting to intervene noticing the heavy presence of armed Blue Moon soldiers. Alexander was there too and doing the same thing, keeping his mouth shut.  
  
"Look boss, it's like I said. Some of Boris's units tried to land so we took off after em'."  
  
"Was liberating the occupied areas of Yellow Comet part of pursuing Black Hole?" Olaf challenged.  
  
"Aw dry up boss. Kanbei owes us now. There's nothing more you like than someone being in your debt. Besides you're only seeing the small picture."  
  
This halted Olaf's raving for the meanwhile. He thought over it, Grit was right and nearly everyone in the room knew it. Even Andy and Alexander knew that was surely one of Olaf's dreams.  
  
"I don't see why we have to keep going and saving people! It's crazy! Let them fight their own wars!" He returned after awhile.  
  
"Boss. To put it lightly, this is our war. Black Hole isn't just planning to skip over us like they got lost or something. I bet we're going to be the new Black Hole capital if they have their way in Green Earth."  
  
They heard footsteps and soon another person entered the room. It was Sonja who handed over a rain coat to one of the pair of soldiers who escorted her. Olaf's eyebrows raised in surprise but he soon recovered and pointed toward her.  
  
"What the hell are you doing here!"  
  
"I trust he's like this always?" Sonja asked looking toward Grit. "I can't imagine how hard it is for you to do your job defending your country through this."  
  
"It ain't so bad. The situation's just gotten to him, that's all." Grit explained.  
  
"What did you say?" Olaf nearly gasped. "I'm in control like I always am!"  
  
"Anyway Commander Olaf, your subordinate is correct. Green Earth is in considerable danger. And we will be too if current Dark Star activities go unchecked."  
  
The room went silent for awhile, but Olaf was never the one to be quieted by others.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Sturm has developed a new weapon, he wasn't quick enough or probably thought he didn't need it for our last confrontation. And it's not something your going to find on the battle field either. Imagine if you will, a weapon capable of making surgical strikes from outer space, or more specifically, Cosmo Land's orbit."  
  
Andy moved forward past Grit with his hand in the air.  
  
"Like a big space gun?"  
  
"More like a complex laser targeting system. Early reports tell it's so accurate, it could possibly shoot off that cigarette you have in your mouth Grit. Or it could vaporize a building."  
  
Grit paused and took the cigarette out of his mouth looking at it. Eventually he threw it to the ground and stepped on it even though it wasn't lit. It was the remnants of a habit developed from a time when he still lit up.  
  
"Well that's pretty accurate, but why would you want something so..." Grit was at a loss for words.  
  
"Accurate?" Sonja finished. "Assassinations would be executed in a matter of milliseconds. Imagine no form of leadership, every mind capable of being the leader of a country taken out with the touch of a button, or a keystroke for that matter."  
  
"What happened to big explosions and huge meteors?" Andy asked. "This doesn't sound like Sturm's style."  
  
"On the contrary, Sturm would rather crush our armies himself to set an example for any who are planning to resist. Besides, he wants to rule our world, not blow it into smithereens."  
  
They soon all turned toward Olaf who soon found them all staring at him. He was pulling at his moustache so much that it looked like he was going to rip it off. It wasn't until after awhile he noticed their glances and he stiffened and looked around nervously.  
  
"What are you looking at me for?"  
  
"Your the boss. You call the shot here, whether or not Blue Moon rolls out." Grit explained. "As for these two, I'm sure they gotta move out and tell their bosses about all this. Right fellas?"  
  
Andy and Alexander looked at each other before nodding.  
  
"Yeah Olaf, we gotta get going. We'll meet up with Eagle after getting back to Nell Sonja."  
  
Sonja nodded and watched as they left toward the helicopters outside on the landing pads. She then turned back toward Olaf with a firm glance and straightened her glasses.  
  
"Well, I've told you what I know. What you do is entirely up to you. If you aren't up for another fight..."  
  
This caused Olaf to almost leap forward with an angry expression  
  
"Not up for another fight? Blue Moon is the finest fighting force in Cosmo Land!"  
  
"Hey Boss, I thought Kanbei had the..."  
  
"Shut up Grit!" Olaf snapped. "Just wait till Black Hole sees us, we'll make them retreat like the cowards they are! Ha ha ha!"  
  
Sonja rolled her eyes before leaving and gave a nod to Grit who returned it. Olaf gave a few more chuckles before turning toward back toward Grit.  
  
"Start a clock, it's going to be Sturm's last days in one piece!"  
  
"What ever you say boss, what ever you say."  
  
------------------------------  
  
The Green Earth launch site was located only a couple of miles south of the Blue Moon / Green Earth border. And well protected at this point after their border had been breeched, many figured it was only a matter of time before someone attacked and everyone was on edge. The forces stationed around the launch site were on high alert and many rockets and missile sites set up. Security checks were constant and contact with the control room and the perimeter was kept almost at every moment. It didn't help that there was a heavy woods that came up to the rear fence of the site. A rocket all ready sat in the launch pad with the steel arms of a near by tower almost encircling the rocket.  
  
It was almost on the coast and fell under the jurisdiction of Drake's forces to protect it. A lot of the site was flat asphalt with long hangers designed for rocket storage and prep areas. There was a lot of Medium tanks stationed around with their turrets swiveling slowly toward the long road and forest areas around them. One of the control room personnel could see this on the monitors and squirmed anxiously in his seat.  
  
"You think they'll attack this site? I mean, we've planned this launch for a long time and suddenly we have to divert fuel to the air fields again." The squirming man asked.  
  
"I bet not Daryl, it'll be like last time." A rounder co-worker complained. "They'll run a butt load of drills and no army will every come close to the facility. At this rate, we'll never get this new satellite into space. The military brass is acting like EarthTech was never an important producer of aircraft for Green Earth."  
  
The Plump man was known as Richard and wore an id tag around his neck like Daryl. There were other men and women going about the room doing jobs, but these two had strayed from their normal routines. Richard paced the room constantly under the watch of several Green Earth soldiers. The security cameras flashed a couple more images of the forces guarding the facility and then Daryl stood up.  
  
"I gotta get a breath of fresh air. This anticipation is killing me."  
  
"You act like we're target number one! It's not like this is the only launch site in Green Earth you know! Three more hours and we punch out anyway!"  
  
But his words were no use as his friend was all ready climbing the steps toward the viewing room up top. It gave a clear view of the launch site and the rocket on stand by. The viewing room was barren and he quickly made his way toward the glass door to the balcony. The sea air greeted him as he went outside and whipped his body. It wasn't long before he shivered because of his short sleeves and began to debate whether or not to go back inside. He didn't think about much else when a jet rose right in front of him and floated there.  
  
"My god!" He screamed as the piercing engine noises could be audible.  
  
He looked across the pitch black jet and suddenly noticed a man standing on the flat area right above the cockpit. It was Hawke and he waved to the man.  
  
"Excuse me, do you mind if we borrow this launch pad?" Hawke asked sarcastically.  
  
He could barely utter a word when the machine guns on the jet opened fire and began to shatter the glass behind him. The bullets whizzed right over his head but none of them hit him. All it did was leave the viewing room behind him in a bullet riddled mess. Some of the fluff from the cushions of the furniture floated into the air and was sucked into the jets of the harrier before him. Before long, he could hear multiple jets flying and firing missiles at the forces stationed below. Anti-air and missiles instantly lit up the sky.  
  
Daryl was petrified and simply stood watching the jet hover in front of him and watching as Hawke stepped across the cockpit and leapt down to the balcony. The harrier pulled away and began to open fire on some target on the ground while Hawke took out a gun and kept it at his side.  
  
"Excuse the mess, we need to get rid of all these distractions." Hawke gestured out to the scrambling ground forces.  
  
"You can't get away with this!" Daryl managed to shout out in fear.  
  
"Your right. Harrier jets can't secure a facility like this alone. That's why I have some friends coming in."  
  
Almost as soon as he finished his sentence, Daryl could see some black dots hitting the shores a couple miles away. He soon realized they were Landers and tanks began to scramble out of the bellies of the ships.  
  
"Relax..." Hawke lifted his ID and glanced at it. "Daryl, we only kill unimportant people. You on the other hand, are quite an important person."  
  
"For what?" Daryl stuttered.  
  
"We're going to launch a new payload. And your going to help us."  
  
A stray missile exploded just above them and sent Daryl tumbling backwards hitting his head on the metal frame of the shattered glass panes. He could veigly hear helicopters before blacking out.  
  
-Next Chapter: Launch Base Go 


	9. Chapter 9: Launch Base Go

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 9: Launch Base Go  
  
The Green Earth forces hadn't wasted a second moving in to attack the invading Black Hole forces. It wasn't long before detachments of the Blue Moon army showed up as well and soon it was all on. Rockets and Artillery began to roll into the area making it obvious that Grit was leading the initial strike while Olaf followed up behind with bigger guns. Bombers, Medium Tanks, and the like. Black Hole had secured the area with harriers, the jets almost doubled as helicopters and they began to hold the area while ground forces moved in. Drake's crippled navy made it easy for several Landers to supply the main forces for the occupation. Now a fire fight could be seen moving up and down the area where the Blue Moon and Green Earth forces tried to push through, but no one moved.  
  
It wasn't long before night fell during the heated battle, and that's when things began to get really nasty for the enemies of Black Hole. Eagle had shown up and took command of the Green Earth forces on the scene. Grit was still waiting for Olaf and more units still poured from the Landers on the nearby coast. Any and all nearby cities were transformed into staging areas, it took awhile for the Blue Moon and Green Earth commanders to suck it up and get organized, and by then it was too late to make use of their combined forces, now it was just a matter of holding on. Adder's nighttime combat experience wasn't making it an easy task.  
  
Helicopters with engines as loud as whispers easily darted behind Blue Moon lines and proceeded to rip up everything they found vulnerable. Missiles and Rockers were prime targets. With their quick alliance, the Blue Moon officers on the scene would call in fly bys for the nearby Green Earth air force. Some helicopters were revealed by spotlights, and within seconds, the expert pilots would change the silent killer into a heap of falling scrap. It was only a matter of time before the harriers from the Black Hole side began to dogfight with the enemy jets and soon the whole sky was lit up like someone flipped a light switch. The front line was drawn by a crooked river and a couple of lousy bridges, looking more like they were ready to collapse than support the weight of tanks.  
  
Anyone who crossed the river would be ambushed by the jet black tanks under Adder's command. The Rocket commanders from Grit's forces would see as their units quickly disappeared into a crater. If anyone were to survive the stalking Medium Tanks, they would meet up with hidden artillery set up along the road tucked in the forested areas. It was obvious after a couple attempts a breaking into the rocket complex, Black Hole had the main roads fortified. But soon the attention of the Blue Moon / Green Earth forces were turned to the bridge, every soldier who looked out across the river felt that the next plan would be to try and blow up the bridges. Infantry and mechanized divisions began to storm the bridges until the sun rose again. It wasn't until about five in the morning things quieted down long enough to check over their forces.  
  
Adder had done his damage. Hawke's harriers had also done a number on the Green Earth squadrons in the air forcing them to ground any immediate air strikes. But the sun also brought a much needed halt to the chaos, Adder was vulnerable during the day, and the Blue Moon and Green Earth armies needed to take a breather. There was still a bunch of smoking craters left over from all the down jets and harriers. There wasn't a whole lot of them that skidded to a halt once they crashed landed. The AA batteries had cut them up to shreds before they hit the ground. There wasn't any movement outside the forested area along the riverside. The Rocket units all had itchy trigger fingers, and would blow away anything that stepped foot on open ground.  
  
Grit was one who could feel the tension running through his men around him and he wondered if the Green Earth guys were the same way. The last time Blue Moon and Green Earth collaborated on the battle field was against Sturm's compound, and even then there was an Orange Star camp separating them. Now they were side by side and had moved to work together rather suddenly. The truth was Green Earth never expected Blue Moon to come barging in on their territory, but since they were all fighting a common enemy, the differences between them dissolved for a time. It had disappeared long enough for Grit to take a walk through the Green Earth front lines and searched the crowd of green helmeted soldiers for Eagle.  
  
He never thought trying to find a gray haired guy dressed in a military uniform to be so hard. Truth was a lot of Green Earth officers under his command secretly took up aspects of his appearance, such as the cross armed stance. It was enough for Grit to spin around one too many jumpy soldiers and almost wound up getting shot. Eventually word got around to Eagle that Grit was looking for him and they met up along some of the helicopters that used a school parking lot as a helipad.  
  
"Howdy Eagle. How goes your front?"  
  
"Miserable. This Adder character has got on my last nerve." Eagle answered quickly. "Do you need any help on your end?"  
  
"No no. My boys are holding out all right." Grit took a quick look around. "I need to tell you something about Adder here."  
  
"And that is?"  
  
"Adder was once a part of Blue Moon. Well, now that I recall it. He was more of a possible recruit. But I've heard he was kept out because he only moved at night, not fast enough for the bearded one."  
  
"You think he took it personally and joined Sturm to show you a thing or two about combat?"  
  
"Yep, that's the way I see it." Grit nodded grimly. "If we get that far, to the point where we're about to take him down. I'd like the last shot on this one."  
  
Personally, Grit had expected Eagle's brash manner to kick in and tell him that it wasn't the time or place for requests. But instead he took a deep breath and let out a sigh. He looked on with understanding and nodded his head.  
  
"We'll see Grit. Orange Star should be here momentarily. I doubt even a lowly Black Hole CO can stand against three forces."  
  
"Maybe he won't try to." Grit answered automatically.  
  
He began to shake his head as Eagle had almost asked for an explanation. Their conversation ended there when the sounds of helicopters began to fill the air. Seeing as how the majority of the Green Earth helicopters were grounded they instantly knew it was Orange Star arriving. There was no way Adder's copter engines were that loud. The bright orange military colors could be seen flying overhead. Some jets soon followed, but in small number, nowhere near the size of Eagle's famed squadrons. Some transport copters began to circle the area and one landed near them both. Grit held down his cowboy hat as Eagle held a hand in front of his eyes.  
  
The both of them knew who would pop out and soon Andy, Max, and Sami emerged. They moved quickly over to Eagle and Grit as the T copter began to fly away.  
  
"Hey guys. Why do you got four COs? I think two should be enough for every country." Grit began in a joking voice.  
  
"Grit..." Max began.  
  
"Cause I'm just a recruit. And the way things are going, Nell will be playing politics soon for sure." Andy joked back.  
  
"Can't say I miss that unstoppable enthusiasm."  
  
Sami was looking spaced as she gazed at Eagle but eventually regained her composure.  
  
"So, Eagle. What's the situation?"  
  
"They've holed up in a rocket facility. Adder's the front line defense, Hawke is providing air support and Sheila is watching the base." Eagle took a moment to shake his head before continuing. "And it's ugly."  
  
Max had stepped forward and flexed his muscle and put on a grin. Grit rolled his eyes and had all ready figured what he was going to say and moved his lips accordingly, mocking Max in the process.  
  
"Once I get moving. There won't be much of a front line left! Hey Grit! You want to start something?"  
  
"No thanks, Maxie." Grit grinned.  
  
"Why do you always have to call me that!"  
  
Sami had walked in-between them and spread her arms.  
  
"You can handle these two, right Eagle?"  
  
He nodded and let out a laugh watching Grit and Max break their stare and turn their attention to the situation at hand. By this time Sami was explaining something to Eagle in a low voice. Eventually she turned back and gave a glance toward Max and Grit.  
  
"All right gentlemen. If your done, we'd like to get started."  
  
"Sure Sami, whenever your ready." Grit obliged.  
  
"Going toe to toe with the standing Black Hole forces is messy and will probably be too late to stop the launch Sonja has told us about. So we have to take their base of operations."  
  
Max had muttered something, but shut up when Sami wheeled around and gave him a good stare. Andy was scratching his head as she pulled him forward and displayed him to Grit and Eagle.  
  
"Everyone knows Andy is a whiz when it comes to technical stuff, so he's going in with my special forces unit."  
  
"I'll lend you a squadron for protection. Hawke has plenty of harriers floating around to cut any transport copters to shreds." Eagle explained. "Don't worry, we'll give them a lightning strike. They won't know what hit them."  
  
"Me and Max will mind the front lines. Right?" Grit asked.  
  
"Until Olaf shows up with re-enforcements? Yes."  
  
"Aw come on Sami! You just gotta let me get a piece of these jokers! Especially that Adder guy!" Max wined. "And don't leave me with Grit!"  
  
"Quit bellyaching Maxie. Your stuck with me for now."  
  
Grit was quick to drag Max off before he could make any more pleas to Sami and left the three to themselves. In an instant they were off with Eagle moving to send a message to one of the airbases to ready a squadron of jets unaffected by Adders antics from the night before. The cooperation between Orange Star and Green Earth was much more smooth than between Blue Moon. It seemed like Blue Moon was always trying to prove something and therefore made it difficult to do anything with anyone else, except when they were really desperate and that only lasted so long.  
  
The new Green Earth fighters were scrambled in a matter of moments and were en route as the Orange Star special forces got ready and piled into helicopters. The insertion point was only a couple of miles from the front lines, but as Eagle had said. The harriers under Hawke's command were very particular about shooting down helicopters. Andy and Sami rode in the same helicopter and while she loaded a machine gun, Andy was packing a case full of tools.  
  
"Hey Sami, why do I only get a pistol while everyone else has assault rifles?"  
  
"Cause your a mechanic. Leave the shooting to us, and we'll leave the sabotage to you."  
  
"Do you think Sonja is gonna show up?" Andy asked while sliding his pistol into a holster.  
  
"She better, I'm tired of her sitting back and watching. All her intel and not a gut instinct in her body."  
  
"She was captured last time Sami. It's different this time."  
  
"Well she sure hasn't shown it yet." The bitterness was rising in her voice.  
  
Andy cut the chatter as they crossed the river and began to hear the Green Earth pilots radio in to them about ETA to engaging the enemy. The high pitched roars of the jet engines could be heard all around them as the squadron raced ahead to occupy the harrier force. The Orange Star soldiers couldn't help to look out the portals of the copter to see the green blurs begin to open fire upon the hovering black jets of Black Hole. Action started as if someone had flipped a switch, instantly missiles screeched across the sky and spun around trying to connect with their targets. Some anti-air could be heard below, but the explosions and machine gun sounds were so much louder.  
  
The forested area soon bled into the wide spread tarmac of the rocket base. But most of the civilian cars had been rolled over into a crude barrier and tanks rolled back and forth in patrol. Some of them saw the copters coming and a gunner would open fire into the air, but it was not accurate enough to affect anything. It wasn't long before they could see the complex fold out below them. A sprawling area more long than tall, but there was plenty of towers to monitor the launch site. The copters wasted no time getting to the insertion point and throwing open the sliding doors and emptying out their cargo. Sami's forces soon realized they had been dropped on top of the tower housing the control room.  
  
There was plenty of Black Hole soldiers to greet them as they leapt out of the copters, guns blazing. One of the helicopters burst into flame as the soldiers on the roof were not using standard machine guns, but assault shotguns. A hail of bullets erupted from each shot and blew out the cockpit windows of some helicopters. The pilots waited as long as they could before flying away. The Orange Star infantry began to clean up the Black Hole soldiers as the reloading time for the shotguns was too long and made them vulnerable. But with this came the blazing fire of harriers that began to circle the roof. It didn't take long for Sami's forces to rush toward the stairs and head downwards into the launch base.  
  
The plan formed long before their take off toward the occupied launch facility began to take effect as the group split. One went toward the launch pad while the other began on toward the control center. The group heading toward the control center was the group Andy was in and followed closely with his pistol ready and the bag of tools in the other hand. The corridors of the facility were lined with colored paths that led workers from one point to another. Besides that, the hallways carried sounds of rapid footsteps and shouts up and down the hall. Some Black Hole soldiers darted out of offices and were cut down by the Orange Star soldiers. But it wasn't long before a real organized unit began to try and close in on them.  
  
"Andy! Follow the green line, it's the control room! Go! Go!" Sami ordered.  
  
Both of them and a trio of soldiers began to sprint through the halls firing upon anyone who got in their way while the rest of the unit slowly followed after cleaning up any stray soldiers. For the most part, they had passed any connecting hallways and now just held their ground. When Sami's ground did reach the control room, they stopped immediately and began to move slowly. There wasn't any sound coming from the control room, and when they looked in it was abandoned.  
  
"Usually I would throw in a grenade or two, but I have a feeling those computers are all important."  
  
Andy nodded and watched as Sami and the three soldiers slowly entered the room. Black Hole soldiers began to pop out from behind the computers and fire at them. The five of them dove and took cover and began to fire back around the corners. The Black Hole soldier's fire was constant and reckless, while the Orange Star fire was much more selective, only firing when a clear shot could be made. The dozen or so Black Hole soldiers put up fierce resistance, but soon began to get picked off as some more Orange Star soldiers began to enter the room. Before long, shells and bodies were plentiful in the room, but it was secure.  
  
In no time Andy was typing away at the computers and bringing up read outs on the large monitor that had a couple of bullet holes in it, but it still functioned. From what Sami could make out from the screen, preparations for launch were over and done with, now all that was left was a countdown.  
  
"So this is it huh? The rocket they're going to launch."  
  
"Yep, and Sonja was right on the money. Some big laser gun. I'm surprised it isn't a weapon that brings down planets."  
  
The situation kept anyone from enjoying the joke and soon Sami's radio flared up with activity. The other unit was experiencing problems at the launch site and soon Sami turned toward the soldiers who had taken up positions in the room.  
  
"The other unit needs help, five of you come with me. The rest secure the area, and don't let Andy out of your sight. This isn't over yet."  
  
The soldiers moved out and soon Sami gave one last glance at Andy watching him type away at the computer before moving out.  
  
"Good luck Sami, don't do anything stupid." Andy said as she started to leave.  
  
"Heh, your the one who gets into trouble. We'll get back as soon as we can."  
  
Now Andy was left with the remaining five soldiers and continued to type away trying to find an obvious weakness in the rocket's system. He figured it was pretty similar to one of the projectiles in a Rocket unit, simply bigger and carrying something other than an explosive. He had worked on it for some time when a heavy footstep could be heard above them. Andy looked up from the console and turned toward the other soldiers.  
  
"Did you guys hear that?"  
  
"Sure did, somewhere above us?"  
  
Now the footsteps was more constant and could be followed along the ceiling and all of them soon saw a set of stairs they had missed. Andy grabbed his gun and stood up as the other soldiers readied their weapons and moved toward the stairs slowly. The footsteps stopped and the Orange Star soldiers felt beckoned to move upstairs.  
  
"Hey guys..." Andy began.  
  
"Just keep working, we'll handle this."  
  
Before most of them were halfway up the stairs machine gun fire engulfed the stairways taking out two of the soldiers who had begun to climb up. The remaining three took up positions behind the computers and watched as a bulky figure casually made it's way down the stairs and opened fire on the soldiers. The y shaped muzzle fire reminded Andy of their first encounter with Adder's forces but he got down before trying to see anymore. The person shooting at them wasn't preserving any ammo and showered the area with bullets. There was ricocheting sounds as if it was bouncing off of tank armor. When the machine gun fire stopped a dead soldier fell down in front of Andy's position and caused him to jump up with his handgun drawn.  
  
He could see the soldiers that were guarding him were dead and the figure standing at the bottom of the stairs still held his gun out ready to fire. This figure was familiar to Andy, but different at the same time.  
  
"Oh my god, Sturm."  
  
Sturm looked nothing like he did before. No longer did his mask have any sort of snout, now it was replaced with what looked like the grill of a semi truck. Several tubes snaked away from the grill section and went behind him. The military outfit he wore the last time was replaced with some sort of armor that covered him from head to toe. His eyes glowed a teal color, but he still wore his hat from before.  
  
"Andy... Have at me!" Strum teased.  
  
Steam erupted from his mask as he talked and he began to aim the weapon at Andy. Andy began to empty his gun and watched as Sturm moved with lighting quick reflexes blocking the bullets with his hand and then pointing the P90 back at Andy.  
  
"Your going to need a bigger gun."  
  
Sturm watched and let out a laugh as Andy reached for the assault rifle of the dead officer and began to shoot with an angry yell. The result was the same as the handgun and Sturm soon shot off his own gun, but only to knock the rifle out of Andy's hands. His laugh was low and cruel as he made his way across the room.  
  
"What do you think Andy? Do you think if you beat me again I'll just go away? And pretend like nothing you did ever happened?"  
  
"You just don't learn when to stay down do you Sturm?" Andy told him angrily.  
  
Almost in motions as fast as when he blocked the bullets and grabbed Andy by the throat before slamming him up against the large monitor.  
  
"You don't have any room to talk! You arrogant fool! You see I'm in control here, I pull this trigger, and I turn you into a corpse. Soon all I'll need is a button and I'll turn every last one of your comrades into melted jelly!"  
  
Andy's feet kicked wildly as Sturm was cutting off his oxygen. He gripped the armored hand of Sturm in a desperate attempt to get him to let go, but it was no use. It was only until he threw Andy across the room, could the young CO get a breath. Sturm watched as Andy coughed and struggled for breath.  
  
"When Sami... gets back... you'll be in for it!" Andy gasped.  
  
"Yes, Sami, let me tell you about her." Sturm had moved over to one of the consoles and typed something in.  
  
A camera sprung up and showed Sheila with a long rifle at her side. She stood looking out one of the many offices and was directed toward the  
  
"Sheila, are you in position to take out Sami's forces?"  
  
"With the press of a trigger sir." Sheila answered cheerfully.  
  
"Do it, and don't call back till every last one of them are dead." Sturm ended the call by hitting a switch and the monitor now showed the insignia of the Black Hole forces.  
  
He moved back over toward Andy and kept his gun trained on him.  
  
"Do you know why I created robotic clones of you Andy? Because no one had any idea your capabilities. Never would I have thought to despise you as much as I do now. Never again will I use your body for anything but a bulls eye!"  
  
"Talk is cheap Sturm!" Andy shot back.  
  
He flinched as Sturm cocked his P90 and drove it into Andy's face.  
  
"And life is short, Andy." Sturm told him darkly.  
  
"Go ahead shoot. You'll only make them angrier, and then there's no way you'll be taken alive by Eagle and the rest of them."  
  
Strum's mask began to shoot steam out of it like a smokestack. He was laughing hysterically and his eyes flashed rapidly as he threw his head back. Every moment it carried on, Andy was convinced more and more that Sturm was completely insane.  
  
"Do you really think you can kill me? You can't kill an emotion, it surfaces in everyone from time to time."  
  
"What emotion do you think you portray Sturm? Insanity? Cause I'll grant you that."  
  
"It's ambition Andy! Cold hard ambition! That's why Olaf was so easy to coax in the last war. He and I were two of the same. He wanted to become more powerful than Orange Star and I wanted to be in control of it all. Men like Olaf, will never be satisfied with what they have. Never."  
  
Sturm had lowered his gun and tilted his head.  
  
"That's why I used Black Hole as a staging point. They had gone ignored for so many years, the desire to just appear from nowhere and crush the other armies made them easier to convince than Olaf that a military campaign was more than appropriate!"  
  
"And that's what you did with Boris, and Adder, and Sheila! They wanted to become something, and you were what they always wanted. An opportunity." Andy explained.  
  
"Your catching on. Not bad for a eighteen year old."  
  
"But Hawke on the other hand. What did he want?" Andy asked him.  
  
Sturm didn't answer right away. He looked upwards and seemed to stare into space. Andy tried to move but soon could hear Sturm whip around and point his gun at him. Now Sturm was mad and picked up Andy by the throat again.  
  
"What did you say? What did you say you little maggot!" Sturm bellowed.  
  
He shook Andy furiously and eventually dropped him back on the floor. Despite the pain running throughout Andy's body, he had on a grin and slowly stood up in front of Sturm. For once, he felt like Sturm wasn't much of a threat despite the strange combat suit he wore and the machine gun pointed at him.  
  
"What's a matter Sturm? Were you so impressed by Hawke's talents. That you didn't even wonder why he would join you in the first place?"  
  
Sturm was breathing deeply, like he was humiliated or something. Then in a flash, he aimed his gun toward Andy and pulled the trigger.  
  
-Next Chapter: The Final Encounter 


	10. Chapter 10 Finale: The Final Encounter

Advance Wars: Dark Star  
-Chapter 10: The Final Encounter  
  
The bullet left the chamber and sped across the room in a downward trajectory. It hit Andy in the leg driving him toward the ground. Sturm turned away as the bullet impacted, and with a huff began to move away.  
  
"Don't move." He told Andy sarcastically.  
  
He began to pound the console angrily and a radio signal was sent out. There was no visual but instead a read out of the frequency.  
  
"Adder!"  
  
There was no immediate response only a deafening silence. Sturm was gripping his gun angrily and his right arm began to shake.  
  
"Adder! Report right now!"  
  
"You know, if your lucky. Grit and Max took care of Adder before Hawke could backstab you."  
  
Sturm fired a burst of bullets in Andy's direction but didn't aim. Most of the bullets impacted the wall and was enough to shut him up for a time. No matter how many times Sturm demanded it. There was no response from Adder, only a constant silence. He then tried another frequency and yelled out loud at the top of his voice.  
  
"Hawke! What the hell is going on!"  
  
"General Sturm. So nice of you to call."  
  
"Shut up! What the hell is going on with Adder?"  
  
"Adder... Is being pushed back toward the rocket facility. I believe his radio was shot out."  
  
"All right! Get in here this instant. Land your jet and get in here right now!" Sturm demanded.  
  
"Ok." Hawke's voice came from the stairs and Sturm spun around with his gun armed.  
  
Hawke had a confident grin on his face and had a radio in one hand and a pistol in the other. The two were at a stand off for awhile until Andy knocked his tool kit to the ground and caused both of them to turn toward him. It was then Hawke decided to walk toward Sturm but stopped as he heard the click of Sturm fingering the trigger.  
  
"What's a matter general? It's not like you to point a gun at one of your own officers." Hawke pointed out calmly. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Shut up. The boy just brought my attention to something quite interesting. Oh, is something wrong. Something is definitely wrong. With you Hawke, my most loyal supporter."  
  
"Supporter?" Hawke sounded surprised. "No, not supporter. Casual follower."  
  
Andy was looking back and forth between the both of them trying to decide what was going on. He had thought he was on to something when Sturm had reacted to his question about what Hawke had to gain from his plans. From there it seemed things had gone downhill for Sturm. But something was wrong, Andy felt, Sturm was not one to make mistakes with out plans for correcting them.  
  
"Casual follower..." Sturm repeated angrily. "Interesting choice of words. It's like I couldn't even hear you blatantly admit your betraying me."  
  
"You betrayed Dark Star first. One, by denying me to test my son in combat. You had me reassigned. I could possibly live with that. But then you let Boris die, then I knew we were just expendable pawns. No value to you as officers, but plenty as cannon fodder. Just like Black Hole. Isn't that right, general?"  
  
"So what of it?" Sturm asked unfazed. "What made you think you were any more important that a front line soldier? Because you command others? I think you were trying to find your real position all those times you joined your men on the front."  
  
"Like the dogfight against Eagle? Yes, I was there too. He's just as good as I thought he would be. I can sleep a little easier knowing he's a capable pilot and officer. That's all I really wanted in the end."  
  
"Wait a second." Andy interrupted. "You joined Sturm just so you could see Eagle fighting? Couldn't you just watch him from the safety of a Green Earth position?"  
  
"That wouldn't be satisfactory. He would be trying to please me, not himself. That's no way to prove anything. I had to see him completely motivated by his own accord."  
  
Hawke ducked down as Sturm suddenly opened fire and began to shatter the monitors and glass on the wall in front of him. But the fire didn't last long as the gun gave an empty click and refused to fire anymore. Andy saw Sturm toss the gun angrily to the side and then as Hawke slowly rose out from behind one of the consoles.  
  
"Andy, don't be so naive." Sturm hissed. "Seeing his son fighting was just a by product of his true purpose. Undermining me!"  
  
"Some truth to that." Hawke said casually as he aimed his pistol at Sturm.  
  
"What do you think your going to do with that gun? It's not gonna do anything to my suit." Sturm laughed.  
  
"That's true."  
  
Hawke pulled the trigger anyway and soon Andy could see one of the eyes on Sturm's mask explode into glass shrapnel. The next thing he heard was Hawke's voice ordering him to get moving. With a last look of Sturm reeling backwards with his hands around his damaged eye piece he began to follow Hawke upstairs to the damaged viewing area. The rocket was in clear view ahead of them and so was the fire fight from Sami's troops.  
  
"Sami! Oh no Sheila is gonna pick them all off!" Andy cried out.  
  
"One crisis at a time. First we stop the launch." Hawke explained.  
  
An infuriated roar from below was followed by the ominous rush of footsteps below. Sturm's heavy footsteps could be heard as he rushed up the stairs and was now armed with one of the Orange Star assault rifles. He wasted no time firing at Hawke and Andy as they rushed out onto the balcony.  
  
"What will we-"  
  
Andy couldn't say much as Hawke picked him up and threw him off of the balcony, before jumping off himself. Sturm charged outside and leapt of the side as well. All three of them landed on top of a Black Hole harrier. The jet began to pull away from the control center and slowly turned around heading toward the rocket. Andy had landed on top of the cockpit as Sturm had leapt back near the engines and tail fins. Hawke was in between the two of them lying down to keep from rolling off. But he instantly rolled to the left wing as Sturm managed to aim the rifle and fire it. Some of the bullets blew holes through the upper cockpit which was empty. The bullets crippled the canopy and soon collapsed sending Andy falling into the rear seat. The Black Hole pilot didn't even look back as he continued to fly toward the launch site.  
  
The view from the cockpit allowed Andy to see Hawke dangling off the left wing and trying to get footing on a missile that hung from the underside. He didn't get far before Sturm crawled toward the edge and fired at him keeping him from getting out of his precarious position.  
  
"Hey!" Andy cried out to the pilot flying the jet. "You need to get us near the rocket platform! Something Hawke can land on! He's gonna fall!"  
  
"I have a better idea." The pilot told Andy. "You better buckle in."  
  
After Andy had secured himself in the seat, the pilot flipped the jet on it's side giving Hawke some footing on the missiles and sending Sturm tumbling toward the right wing. The jet began to swerve away from the rocket platform though as Hawke gave a signal to the pilot and flipped around to the topside of the wing as the jet leveled itself.  
  
"You guys are crazy." Andy muttered.  
  
"That's Hawke for you." The pilot answered simply.  
  
But suddenly a chorus of jet engines made them all turn to see a formation of Green Earth jets heading toward the harrier and firing off their machine guns.  
  
"I don't suppose they know you guys have defected? Do they?" Andy asked worried.  
  
"No, they don't."  
  
The harriers engines came to life as they began to take off and fly away from the incoming Green Earth fighters. It wasn't long before they were out over the ocean and still with Sturm and Hawke hanging onto each of the wings.  
  
"What the hell are you doing!" Andy cried out uncontrollably. "We need to go the other way!"  
  
"Hey kid! Shut up! Do you know how a jet works? Do you? If I could turn on a dime without getting shot down I would! Ok!"  
  
The Black Hole cruisers soon began to shoot at the incoming jets as they cut a path over the main body of the fleet. But the Green Earth jets behind them were undaunted and continued to stick to their tails.  
  
"I don't suppose you could talk to them?" The pilot suggested.  
  
"Oh yeah! Great idea!"  
  
Trembling from the heat of the moment, Andy gripped the radio and began to shout out.  
  
"Hey you guys! Stop shooting! It's Andy! I'm in the jet you guys are tailing! Hawke's forces have defected! Come in! Stop shooting!"  
  
They soon received confused shouts from the Green Earth jets following them.  
  
"What the hell is this?"  
  
"It's one of those damn clones I tell you!"  
  
"Oh crap..." Andy muttered realizing he wasn't going to stop them.  
  
He gave a quick glance to see Hawke still holding on and then looked to the right wing to see that Sturm was nowhere in sight. Then he looked back to see Sturm crawling across the left wing toward Hawke.  
  
"How the hell!"  
  
"His suit! He's like magnetized to the plane!" The pilot explained in bewilderment. "I tried to shake him off a couple minutes ago. It's like he's glued to the body of the plane!"  
  
Something was pouring from the eyehole Hawke had shot earlier. It looked like blood, but it was brown and oozed like oil. Andy had seen it plenty of times, it was hydraulic fluid.  
  
"Look we gotta land this thing somehow! Can't you slow down and let them pass! This jet flies like a helicopter!" Andy pleaded.  
  
"And risk them running into us? That's just stupid!"  
  
"Well then Hawke is gonna get thrown off anyway!"  
  
The pilot gave out a sigh and hit a switch. The harrier began to slow down drastically and it seemed to bring the bullets closer to the plane. It was then Andy watched as the fire from one of the Green Earth jets hit Sturm and caused him to arch back. Sparks and debris of the suit went flying everywhere.  
  
"Whoa! Sturm just took a bullet, I mean a couple bullets for us!" Andy said amazed.  
  
"I bet you anything he's still alive!" The pilot warned.  
  
Soon afterward the jets screamed past then and began to turn to circle around giving the harrier pilot time to race back toward the rocket and hover to the ground. The harrier settled between a couple of hangars. Andy undid the restraints and leaped out as Hawke dropped to the ground and tumbled across the asphalt. Sturm's yells of agony could now be heard as he rolled of the wing and hit the ground shortly after Hawke did. He stood up slowly, there was the brownish fluid from before leaking everywhere and sparks shooting all over the place. The harrier pilot pulled the jet away and began to fly off somewhere.  
  
"Andy!" Sturm cried out. "If anyone deserves a bullet to the head. It's you!"  
  
Sturm's aim quivered. The suit would shutter with every spark that flew from the gaping holes created by the Green Earth fighter. But since the weapon Sturm was weilding was a machine gun, the aim was not overall important. Andy wanted to run, but as he stood up the shot to the leg earlier reminded him about his ability to move quickly. He looked over to Hawke only to see him unconscious. Sturm began to groan and got his attention but he didn't fire the gun.  
  
"Grrr! Malfunctioning piece of garbage!" Sturm growled. "I need to take this suit off."  
  
In an instant, a loud hissing sound began to escape the suit. Sections of it began to fall off, first the arms, then the leg sections then the torso section which was so badly damaged by the jet machine gun fire. Before long Sturm looked like he did before, just a man in a mask with a black officers uniform. Pieces of the suit lie all around him and looked like dismembered body parts.  
  
"Much better. You know, I was hoping the whole harrier would be shot down. Then I wouldn't have to bother myself with all this nonsense."  
  
Sturm reached for a handgun at his side and cocked the hammer back. It was exactly the same make as Adder's automatic handgun.  
  
"Is there a moment when your caught without a weapon?" Andy muttered trying to move.  
  
"It's all coming apart again. You know, I've finally realized my mistake. All these years I keep trying to crush you with a concrete form of opposition. You keep pulling together, and you keep winning. Well next time, I'm going to collapse each country the way I did Black Hole. It'll take years, much longer than a military campaign, but at least I'll win. And you won't know till it's too late."  
  
Sturm's hand was shaking, but more so with exhaustion than anger. Andy was sure he would have accidentally fired it off by now. Then he heard the loud bang and rolled to the side as the bullet impacted the asphalt. Now Andy faced the ground, Sturm's footsteps shuffled behind him, telling him he was taking aim again and rolled as he did before. Now Sturm was firing it off in full auto mode. One of the bullets clipped Andy in the shoulder and he groaned in pain facing upwards toward the sky. The next thing he saw was Sturm's damaged mask and him pointing the gun straight down.  
  
"Now I know why you hide behind all your troops and tanks and planes. You don't have the backbone to kill anyone yourself." Sturm told him in a cold voice. "You've never put a clip in a gun."  
  
Sturm dropped the empty clip to the asphalt and let it send a clattering noise before placing a new one back into the gun.  
  
"You've never cocked the hammer back."  
  
He pulled the hammer back into a position ready to fire and then pushed the muzzle into Andy's face.  
  
"And you've certainly never killed anyone."  
  
"Wrong Sturm." Andy replied suddenly. "You know someone had to have killed Boris."  
  
"Your lying." Sturm shot back angrily.  
  
"Grenade, into his walking tank. Split it in two. Like a nut when you hit it with a hammer. Or a mask when you break it with a fist."  
  
A bomb went off not to far away, a bombing run by Green Earth now that the skies were clear of any enemy harriers. In the initial blast, Andy shot up in a furious motion and let Sturm have it between the eyes. He wheeled back in pain and held his fist while Sturm's head whipped back and caused him to lose his balance. The handgun was shot off like a crazy man and bullets went everywhere until the gun was empty. Some of the bullets ricocheted off of the hangar walls and came right back into Sturm's mask. He screamed out aloud and soon the mask fell to the ground cut to ribbons, much like the rest of the suit not too far behind them both.  
  
Sturm dropped the gun and covered his exposed face and began to run off. Andy didn't see anything, but stood up and began to limp after Sturm despite the pain running up and down his leg.  
  
"Sturm! Stop! Your not getting away!"  
  
The fleeing general had almost rounded the corner of the hangar when a loud whistling sound filled the area.  
  
"Sturm! Stop! Now!"  
  
Just as Andy had guessed what was going to happen, a bomb landed right behind Sturm and then on top of the hangar sending debris to rain down all around the area. The first explosion threw Andy back to where he had run from, and Sturm was soon covered by the falling metal and debris.  
  
"Oh... Man..." Andy groaned. "No more front line stuff for me..."  
  
Following the sudden withdraw of Hawke's air force, any Black Hole units caught on the ground were bombed to smithereens. The Blue Moon re-enforcements finally arrived and any Black Hole unit still hanging around was blown to kingdom come. Orange Star cleaned up what the reckless Blue Moon strike missed. It wasn't long before they met up with Sami's team who had been caught at the base of the rocket forced to have it out with the nearly endless Black Hole forces. But as soon as Sturm lost contact with his forces, it was all over. From there, it was only a matter of time before they discovered Andy.  
  
------------------------------  
  
"Hey kid. You awake yet? We're bored waiting for you to open your eyes." Max complained. "Ow! Sami, you didn't have to hit me so hard!"  
  
"Serves your right you big lug. You should be more grateful Andy is still alive!" Sami said angrily.  
  
The voices swirled around Andy's head until he opened his eyes slowly. Max and Sami stood at the end of the bed dressed in full uniforms. Max was rubbing his head with a painful expression on his face. It was then Andy realized he was in some kind of hospital.  
  
"Whoa. Where am I?"  
  
"Victor Hospital, Green Earth territory." Sami explained. "You've been through some rough stuff Andy."  
  
"Hawke! Where's Hawke?" Andy cried out.  
  
"Hawke? What do you mean?" Max asked.  
  
Andy began to sit up slowly groaning from the aches and pains in his body. He looked around the room slowly taking in the surroundings before turning back toward them.  
  
"I was in the control room, and then Sturm showed up. Then Hawke showed up. Guys! He wasn't working for Sturm at all! Then he saved me in a way, then we-"  
  
"Whoa kid. Slow down. Like Sami said before, you've been through a lot. Now tell us again."  
  
But Andy didn't tell them again, he simply thought about it. He now had a question for Max and Sami.  
  
"What ever happened to Sonja?"  
  
"Sonja was doing her usual stuff. Working alone, occupying the Black Hole continent and doing stuff without anyone else knowing until the last second." Sami explained annoyed.  
  
"Occupying Black Hole?"  
  
"Yeah, instead of leaving them to their own devices like we did last time. Now she's gonna make sure they don't fall under Sturm's influence again. As much as we didn't want to do it, she wanted Adder and Sheila released from our custody so Yellow Comet could reform them to serve Black Hole and not Sturm."  
  
Andy shook his head in agreement.  
  
"That's a good plan. I know she'll pull it off."  
  
"What?" Sami gasped. "What are you talking about? Black Hole is Sturm's home continent! They're just as crooked as he is."  
  
"Your wrong Sami. I don't think Sturm belongs to any one country. He told me himself, he uses everyone for his own gain. Whole countries right down to individual people." Andy explained. "We'll be all right as long as Sturm doesn't have the ability to get hold of a countries military. We had ignored them for so long..."  
  
"Ignored who?" Now Max was confused. "Black Hole? Sheesh. You'd think a simple reminder would be better than invasion."  
  
"Naw Max. You don't understand. We were so caught up in Blue Moon and everything else. We never even thought about showing Black Hole we even knew they existed. When they attacked and all that, it was like 'hey, see us now? Now you can't ignore us!'."  
  
Max crossed his arms and eventually nodded in agreement. Before much more could be said, the door to the room opened and Olaf and Grit entered. Some soldiers that were escorting them stayed in the hallway after being shooed away by Grit. Andy could also see some Orange Star soldiers out in the hall as well. Olaf was his usual decorated self, but Grit wasn't wearing any kind of formal uniform, still his usual apparel.  
  
"Howdy Andy. You've been through some rough times. Nice to see your still kicking." Grit said tilting his hat back.  
  
"You bum!" Olaf growled. "I told you to wear your uniform, but no. You just had to ignore me. You'll make Blue Moon look bad at the ceremony!"  
  
"Geez." Grit groaned. "You always gotta go about putting a damper on the whole thing. It's time for celebrating boss. Let by gones be by gones you know."  
  
"What ceremony?" Andy asked breaking up their argument.  
  
"Oh yeah, Green Earth's gonna hold a ceremony for us helping them out of a clench. Should be better than Blue Moon's snore fest." Grit explained.  
  
"Snore fest?" Olaf exclaimed. "Why I ought to-!"  
  
The door opened again before Olaf could complain more to Grit and Eagle and Drake entered. Now the only country missing was Yellow Comet, Andy half expected Kanbei to show up for some reason, even though he was busy trying to restore Yellow Comet from Boris's attacks.  
  
"Mornin' Andy. How's yer head feeling?" Drake announced.  
  
"Morning? Was I out that long?"  
  
"Actually it's mid day." Eagle explained. "Drake just doesn't adjust to time zones very well. It's nice to see nothing serious happened to you. We were able to move in quite easily after the Black Hole air force withdrew."  
  
"Hey, guys, could I have a moment alone with Eagle?" Andy asked.  
  
Grit was quick to nod and pull Olaf along with him while Max and Sami followed shortly afterward. Drake tipped his head and said goodbye before he left. Eagle didn't seem confused at all and simply waited for Andy to start talking again.  
  
"If it makes you feel any better. He never was serving Sturm." Andy explained. "He was serving Black Hole."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Eagle asked.  
  
"I mean he never wanted Sturm to lead Black Hole. I can only guess, but when Hawke was MIA, he was in Black Hole living a new life. I bet he's still there, working with Sonja to get Black Hole back on it's feet."  
  
"I see..." Eagle replied after a time. "So I might still be able to see him again."  
  
"I would put money on it!" Andy said cheerfully.  
  
Outside in the hallway, the door was cracked and Olaf, Grit, and Drake pressed their eyes up to the crack to try to see in.  
  
"Ouch! Move over you beached whale!" Olaf grumbled to Drake. "Grit! Tell me what you see?"  
  
"Something about, mind your own business." And with that, Grit slammed the door.  
  
-The End   
(I always wanted to type that)  
-Thanks for Reading! 


End file.
